Chasing the blooming cherries and castles in Japan

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Good morning from Japan, celebrating Sakura at Osaka castle!!!

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Breakfast with an impeccable organization of the hotel Ibis and a view that surpassed my imagination have changed a simple ritual of eating on the run in the longest breakfast of all time. I wouldn’t have gone from there, but the intense gaze of departed tourists thwarted me and gave way to the window.

We gathered in the hurry (I) only what we needed for a day off the hotel, but I waited for minutes because mu husband had to perfectly plan the entire day. With your eyes on the window, or on the watch, still beating your feet, let’s go faster, we’re wasting our time (I) – we don’t know where and how we get from one place to another (he), we woke up in a sea of ​​hurried Japanese very well “programmed” and, slightly disoriented, we finally made our way to the destination we had chosen in Romania: Osaka Castle, a castle over 600 years old, one of the most famous in Japan, where we can see the most beautiful blossom cherry.

 

The adventure began, as well as all the following, from the subway station: a lot of entrances, lots of lines, floors, pink carriages dedicated to women and few Europeans. Except for the tourists, they all wore black suits, and for me they all looked similar. With solid Latin roots, I was thinking that the Asians would look at us somehow … in any way.

 

… but they had other concerns … I later learned that the Japanese avoided watching people in the eye, that was the first major cultural difference. I was all but a smile and I liked them all. Although I looked at them with insistence, especially since they totally ignored me, you’d have sworn that for them we didn’t exist. The second big cultural shock was their dress style, which, although I wasn’t familiar with, I loved it from the first day. Japenese girls dress and wear shoes exceptionally, they accessorize their outfits as nowhere, but that fits them to the slightest detail (by the way, until the end of the trip, I fell in love with their shoes and I’ll dedicate an article only to shoes. I think you’ll gonna like it … there will be many pictures of shoes.

Coming close to the castle, we were confronted with a situation that took us by surprise. We could only translate the arrow and assumed that if we were to follow it that would be the right direction.

 

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Here we are in front of Osaka Castle, ready to meet the samurai spirits.

 

I had bought from the two Osaka amazing underground pass that allowed us access to the castle without paying the entrance separately, and my husband, with a big smile on his face, expected to be praised; it had been his idea and I always pick the results.

The castle is superb, and the interior exhibits remind of the struggles between the two powerful clans, Toyotomi and Tokugawa, to take over the shogunate. The interior abounds in the remains of the shogun dynasty, but also in state-of-the-art technology: samurai original swords, armor and combat helmets, near miniatures and 3D holograms, reflecting different phases of conflict for the last shogunate.

 

We went up to the 8th floor of the castle, where we admired the city with its beauties and the gardens surrounding the edifice, as well as the blooming cherries.

 

Other pictures followed, taken in front of the castle, where some samurai entraintained the atmosphere for a few yens.

 

We were already tired, but thinking about many other beautiful things awaiting us, we have come to this garden where we took the energy to go further.

 

And still going on, with our eyes on the left, on the right, we discovered this wonder of the world. Needless to say that I would spend all day and night and the following nights there; I saw the most beautiful blooming cherries.

I prematurely broke the cherry spell and landed again through Osaka skyscrapers and crowds.

 

Dizzied in the sense of the city’s turmoil, we climbed into Umeda Sky Building, a city symbol that shouldn’t have been missed, and we admired Osaka from above. Gorgeous! We couldn’t miss a cold beer that, as you had already anticipated, had another taste.

 

We ended the evening with a fabulous dinner at a restaurant, of course, Japanese, where we ate okonomiyaki, an absolutely delicious dish. It is a kind of barbecue with everything, a combination of pizza, omelette and pancakes, I know it sounds weird, but it’s divine (I intended to reproduce the recipe at home, but I haven’t had the necessary motivation, yet, although I bought much of the sauces. I’ll let you know if I cook something edible.) It looks like this:

So much for today, I’ll come back with other stories very soon.

All the best!

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36 Comments

  3. Wow… Japan sounds so amazing! I wish i could go there soon 🙂 Definitely now on my bucket list! The castle view looks super cool too 🙂 Are the japanese as nice/respectful as they say they are?

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  4. Looks amazing! That beautiful nature against the urban scenery…. npt too keen on the way theyre addictrd to those phones…. maybe they need to ban smartphones from public areas so people actually make eye contact lol

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  5. I completely agree with your comment about the dressing style of the Japanese girls, I love it too! I was observing their clothes most of the time I was in a train and absolutely loved their style. The Osaka castle is beautiful and with the cherry blossoms (which I unfortunately missed), it looks even prettier!

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  6. Wow!! I always wanted to go to Japan, one of my desired destinations. And cherry blossoms!! I want to see and feel it! I love your photos and you captured all the wonderful places! Thanks for sharing.

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