Day 17 4th July

Getting up slowly then a quick excursion around the corner to find some souvenirs before we run out of time but nothing at all we like. Just a shopping arcade full of the Japanese $2 shops. It was close but not so close in this heat. It says 31 degrees but because if the humidity it seems a lot higher.
We get back with no presents for anyone and set off for another day exploring Osaka on foot. We've got the hang of the subway system and we almost experts. A lot of walking between lines though. It reminds me of London.

Start off at Osaka Castle. Which is impressive. Though I'm a bit used to European castles so to me it looks like a huge fancy house with a moat. We don't go inside because it has quite a few poor reviews on the net. Seems the inside is just modern.
From Osaka castle we hop the tube to Shin
sekai for a walk around the "New World" It's supposed to be modelled on Paris and New York but to me it looks like a Japanese version of Blackpool complete with the first homeless people we've seen in Japan and tacky stores. Still it's bright and colourful and it has a tower (like Blackpool) It's the Tsutenkaku Tower. It's small but it's funky. We go to the top to get a view of the surrounding area. There's a zoo close by it but it doesn't look much from up here. We can all see the bridge over the Osaka Bay which does look great. On the way down they have a Pocky Exhibition. A salute to chocolate on a stick!. That was wacky. But Liz buys a super large pack. There are also lots and lots of capsule machines. Toys in a capsule which are a massive fad here.
From there we walk to Den Den Town. This is Remi's choice because the place is full of discount electronics and anime shops (and as it turns out 3 great record shops in a row) Lots of crane stores too. Amusement arcades at high volumes. Whole department stores dedicated to anime. A bit of a geek paradise. Japan is a sensory overload.
We grab dinner to take home from the local supermarket. Fried rice.The food everywhere is great and we are completely worn out so this makes it easy to relax after a full days walking. I think we watched a film after that on Netflix but we were so tired I can't remember.