The third part in this trilogy of recollecting my trip around Japan in June 2025. I’ve already been to Tokyo and then into and around Kyoto and now it is time to head to the next city to host me. Osaka.
Tues 17th June 2025
KYOTO to OSAKA
I left the ALA hotel at 11:00am and didn’t do the baggage forwarding because it wasn’t very far on the train and I should be able to manhandle it around. Catching the metro in Kyoto with my gear in my Lowepro backpack, which was on my front. This is the polite way to wear a backpack when on the metro system in Japan. On the metro I noticed that it was styled like an old style of metro carriage. The seats and woodwork in the space made it feel super throwback. There were no digital display boards just maps with little lights in to indicate the station you were at. It was super cool, and the photo I got out of the window was also nice, seeing the older style houses that could be war time pre-fabs or even holiday chalets at Butlins in the 60s. Once at Sakaisuji-Hommachi station it was a brisk walk to the next hotel, the Miyako City Hotel.
I arrived at the 5th floor for reception at 12:30 thinking that I wouldn’t be able to check until 3:00pm. I was going to ask to leave the bags the lady behind the desk said that my room (815) was ready so I wouldn’t have to wait. Once in the room I chose to make a cup of coffee from the room amenities which is really unlike me, as I wouldn’t normally do this. I chilled out and got my camera gear out and ready as well as preparing my suitcase for the next few days.
I ended up going down a youtube rabbit hole and watched Adam Savage talking about space suits before I switched it off and decided to go for a stroll around this new location.
Osaka Castle
First destination was Osaka castle and I set off on my way, stopping at a department store (Semba Center Bldg) as I noticed a cheap bookshop from outside. I found the photo books section and picked up a book by Takato Ogura, Yokosuka Industrial Area, Ashai, Tokyo from 1970-2015. Ogura isn’t a particularly well known photographer, in fact I can only find one reference on google, but the photos are similar to the type I enjoy. A focus on people in the industrial areas as well as odd coincidences in the same un-photogenic world that they live in. It is a pleasing collection of photos and a great snapshot of this area of Japan, it amy also come in handy for me to learn a bit of Japanese too, trying to read the captions etc.
Once back on track, a walk on one of the hottest days I have ever experienced towards Osaka Castle. It was so hot I had to put my baseball cap on backwards to protect my neck from the sun, and whilst I had trousers on again, I was in the majority. For some reason Japanese people seem to not wear shorts a lot of the time so my jeans were not out of place. Walking past a couple of museums I made it to the destination and a big park with the old school looking traditional Japanese castle in the distance.
There was a queue to get a ticket from the machine and although it was under a modern gazebo style structure it was sweltering, probably about 34°C outside but seemingly even hotter in here. The ticket machine caused me no issues and I headed up the stairs to the front door of this magnificent building ready to enter. It was a beautiful building (not enough concrete for me though) and once I’d got inside it I could walk around the museum of the castle with all of the ancient history about feuding clans and family disasters. But it was all presented in a modern looking building, like they’d fitted out the interior with the help of an 80s library designer. There wasn’t much soul to it all really and I felt a little disappointed. There were some nice artifacts and the views off the balcony walkway around the entire building allowed one to see out over the whole city of Osaka. It appeared to be massive but the population is less than half of Tokyo. It looked more like the capital than Kyoto.
It was so hot outside and inside that I sat down for a rest to watch an historical video presentation and when I looked around at the rest of the audience it seemed that almost all the people in there were asleep with some even leaning against each other.
I don’t think that I would go back into the castle on any future trips as it didn’t feel steeped in the history of some other places that I’d visited. There’s no doubt that it looks amazing from the outside but lacks history inside, it may be something to do with it being sacked and burnt down a few times and being rebuilt over the course of its existence.
As I was walking away to head back to the hotel district I heard a lot of chanting and noise coming from a nearby building so I walked up to take a look. The doors were open, as long as you took your shoes off, you could stand and watch, so I stepped in Samba-free to see a school of students, some young and some older, learning martial arts from the katas to using the long wicker swords and bo staffs. No pictures allowed in here but it was great seeing the discipline being instilled into these young people and them having a fun time seemingly.
It was so hot and I hadn’t had a lot to drink, except a couple of Cokes from the vending machines outside the castle, so I stopped to consume a Lemonade Float, the ice-cream practically disappeared immediately and I was sat in an air conditioned Molly’s Cafe, with a good view out onto the street in a location nearby to my hotel.
Dotonbori
After a quick visit back to my room and a quick change into something less sweaty I headed back out again. This time I was aiming at the Dotonbori area, which was about a twenty minute stroll away. it wasn’t much cooler but there were crowds everywhere, with live music and buskers on bridges, boats going up and down the Tonbori river. I had a great wander around the shopping areas, restaurants area and up and down the river banks. The big draw here is the large neon signage on either side of this river, with many films using it as a backdrop. There is a massive Glico sign featuring a running man with arms held aloft that people stand in front of for a portrait whilst recreating the scene. It’s a funny sight to see all the peopl ethere standing on one foot with their arms up in the air.
It was extremely busy around here until late on, the Shinsaibashi shopping street hosting some of the world’s best known brands and some of the smallest bars all sat side by side. It was noisy with some fast and loud cars being driven up the main roads to show off to the crowds of onlookers.
There were a few police officers around too, and cars, but I never saw even a small amount of trouble. There was a bit of mess around too from people dropping food wrappers but it wouldn’t be on the floor long before being picked up by one of the multitude of street sweepers employed by the city.
Wed 18th June 2025
On my list of things I could do today were Umeda Sky Building, the Osaka Expo, the Wonderloop, Abeno Harukas observatory, American village and Botanical gardens.
I had decided early on, as soon as I woke up that today would be the Umeda Sky building Kuchu Teien Observatory in this sci-fi inspired building to get a look out over Osaka from a taller building than Osaka Castle.
Umeda Sky
As I emerged from Osaka-Umeda railway station I was hit by how hot it was again, according to my watch it was showing as 34°C and I still had a way to walk. The area seemed to be full of huge skyscrapers and any areas that were lower in height were building sites for new skyscrapers. Another manhole cover was advertising the Expo, so as I feel compelled to, I took a photo.
Standing underneath the Umeda Sky building I was taken aback at the forty floor buildings connected at the top by a ring and walkways. It did look like something from a movie, like I Robot, Minority Report or something of that ilk.
Heading into the foyer of the building there are signs that point you up to a floor where the ticket desk is and from there the lift to get to the top of the building. It was about £10 for the trip up to the observatory floor, and the outside rooftop viewing platform, it was well worth the money too.
I was looking out of the large windows over the city and then noticed a thin window to the side that I thought I’d be nosey and have a look through, I saw a window cleaner platform being raised to the roof from lower down on the building frontage. It would have been a great view for the two engineers in the basket. They both wore the vests with a fan in the outside that inflated them and kept an air flow going past them. I had seen these jackets in the last two cities I’d been in also, so it wasn’t anything new to me now.
I had a walk around on the rooftop walkways too and then decided to head inside for a cool drink to take the edge of the temperature. I found an observatory bar, where I had a craft beer that was chilled and sat in the window overlooking the river and bridges. It was here where I decided to try and make sense of the Osaka Expo app on my phone. I had played with it before leaving the UK and again in the hotell but it made no sense so I tried once more, if I was successful I’d go, if I wasn’t I’d do something else.
The app is weird, it lets you buy a voucher for a ticket and then you get put in a draw for a ticket to enter the expo. There was also mention of pre-booking tickets to some of the pavilions but I had no idea what I would be doing so left that alone. Once I was reasonably happy that I’d scored an entry ticket to the Expo I carried on with the camera at the Umeda Sky building and noticed that there was a cool effect of the reflections in the glass windows on the opposite side of the observatory that made people walking along appear to walk forward but jump backwards into the next window. A video of this can be seen here. The structure of the walkway was a number of upturned U shapes that in the broken reflections reminded me of the Torii gates of Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari too.
Once at the foot of the building again there was a garden of sculptures by a Japanese artist and my favourites were a huge apple and also a group of metallic figures with their heads all in the same metallic cloud. Tadao Ando was the artist and the exhibition was called Youth. I didn’t hang around for long through as I wanted to get over to the expo with enough time that I could have a good wander around.
Walking to the Umeda station to board a metro for the journey to the expo I noted how hot it was and felt like a drink and a check on the app to see what the expo would be like. I stopped at a British pub, and had a pint of Guinness before entering the underground network again. I alighted at Bentencho before boarding another train for Yumeshima as advertised in the signage all aroudn the station.
Expo 2025, Osaka
This would take me into the East Gate and from there into the Expo proper. I was amazed at how hot it was, and how busy it was. Considering this Expo is on from April until October, I thought it might be relatively quiet, but I was so wrong. The first amazing structure was the Grand Ring that you have to walk underneath to enter the park which was built up from the sea solely for the purpose of this Expo.
The grand ring is a huge circular wooden structure that envelopes the whole expo and my first mission was to find a way up on to the top of it so I could see what the expo was all about. A huge escalator was in front of me so I took a ride to the top and looked out over all of the amazingly designed pavilions for the countries around the world who had a delegation here. There was an opportunity to turn around ans see the view from here over to the mainland and the port of Osaka with the many huge container cranes etc.
I came down with a view to looking at the UK Pavilion before having a good look around the rest of the site, I planned also to walk the whole circumference of the Grand Ring before the end of the day.
A quick walk from the escalator and I was near the USA pavilion with an astonishingly massive queue in front and I didn’t fancy standing in the baking hot midday sun for that length of time. I’d seen the design of the USA Pavilion in an article before I left the UK and it said it appeared to be a floating massive metallic box, but I wasn’t overly struck by it.
Walking towards the UK pavilion I came across a pavilion with a short queue so I had a look and it was for an aerial vehicle, liek a drone and car in one. It was not really related to any country in particular and I felt a little duped about going in to look at this marketing ploy. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the pavilions of the nations so I figured it might be more of this stuff.
I arrived at the queue for the UK Pavilion and once I was closer to the entrance there were signs saying that it was about the opportunity to build the future in the UK. The building was a white colour metallic structure with smaller square details, mirrors and red sections. The underside of the entrance was lit with blue and red led lights hidden behind a square patterned design.
I got to the front and entered like everyone else in the group, probably about thirty people at a time and we were led into a room where a story began of a Japanese businessman on a journey to the UK talking to his kid on the phone. What followed was an “adventure” through the possibilities of having a business or a life in the UK. A few businesses were the sponsors so received prime billing in the presentation, Aston Martin and Astra Zeneca being but two. Inventions created in the UK by British inventors were featured too, and the story continued with the little kid following the character PIX who is based off building blocks kids toys. PIX took us on a flight around the UK through several different rooms with large screens and projection mapping off scenery in the rooms, and a central a screen where button pushes created a Union flag if pressed at the right time.
At the end of the story the dad returns home to his kid having learnt many things about UK culture and talking about the future of the British economy, industries and people. It was all in Japanese with subtitles available too in English. There were very few other Brits about as far as I could see and it appeared that even the staff in the pavilion were all locals.
Going out through the guest shop, I came across a sign for a bar, so I popped in and had a pint of Guards craft lager in the air conditioned room. There were good views of the grand ring and water display area from inside here so I made a few notes on my phone in and in my notepad before heading out to explore further.
Realising now that to get into any of the pavilions would take an awful lot of waiting in the burning sun, I decided to head up onto the Grand Ring for an orbital walk around the whole shabang. Up onto the top walkway and I walked anti-clockwise around, with one of the first things I could get a clear picture of being the UK pavilion then the others along the waterfront. The water being a large seawater pool that is used in a spectacular light show, that I wouldn’t see for a reason I’ll let you have in a bit. There was a huge shiny metal archway in the pool that looked awesome and I thought that it would look amazing in the show.
Making my way around I could see out to see and the rest of the port and Osaka Bay. There were industrial cranes, huge bridges and mammoth towers etc. As i walked around I was walking along with some and against the flow of other people. There was a ramp up the highest point of the Grand Ring so as I walked along to it, the people at the top were backlit by the sun and I fired off a couple of shots on the Q3 with the exposure lowered to get less detail and more silhouetting.
I spent some time at other areas of the grand ring, where emergency exits were spaced and from this exits, high up you could see the internal structure of the huge pieces of timber that made up this gigantic beast. It won the Guinness Record of being the World’s Largest Wooden Architectural Structure such is the massive nature of the building. It is made using modern and traditional methods, using styles used for centuries to make temples and shrines.
As I continued to walk around I came across and looked down over the pavilions of Spain, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.The most impressive of these was the Thailand architecture which saw half of a typical traditional Thai building with a mirrored wall next to it, that gives the impression of a full building. Each of the buildings here have had some great deal of thought put into them and it showed. One building I saw from up on top of the Ring was a building that from the ground and in the right lighting looks like it has a hole in the sky above it.
The sun started setting and I thought it might be a good time to have an explore down on the ground, now having completed the full circumnavigation of the wooden ring. There was just enough time to capture some shots of Osaka Port in the sunset and as some longer shadows appeared it allowed for more good photos from high up. It didn’t last long though, the sunset was around 7pm when back in the UK it was setting at around 10pm.
At the foot of the escalators was a large collection of vending machines offering chilled drinks, around 80p for a bottle of water which would be £6.00 if this was in London. For the first time in my journey I actually saw someone filling a vending machine. Sounds weird I know, but these things are everywhere, they are ubiquitous with the country of Japan now, even offering hot food, drinks, underwear and all manner of other items. the fact that they are seemingly on every street corner and I hadn’t seen one being filled was starting to concern me a little so it was good to finally see this taking place.
I walked into an area that was enveloped by a water mist, Inochi Park. It is water converted into a fine mist blasted out ina. large circular area to cool visitors down and create an immersive experience. It’s very immersive, once it’s going it’s practically impossible to see past your hand. They had a marshal in there asking kids to stop running and I saw several of the little devils crash into each other as they sprinted through the pea souper. A nice opportunity to capture some mysterious photos with very little context and a loss of fidelity in the shapes of people in and around the ground cloud.
From here it was onto a building that I’d noticed from the walkway atop the Grand Ring, a very shiny structure of boxy sections that seemed to vibrate with a rhythmic sound. The sides of the shiny sections bounced in and out like a large speaker producing the bassy notes and there were some cool lights on and around the building. The outside area of this pavilion was devoted to strange exercise equipment, that upon further inspection were places to stand and attach your phone to a spinner that went around you as you posed for the camera. The area was shut off though now, waiting for the next day to open up.
Around here stood the Osaka Expo sculptural sign that many people were taking photos with so I had to wait for an empty period for my photo taken with the water feature and shiny arch in the background with the ring further back. This was when I noticed the sign for the “Under The Midnight Rainbow” water show which was due to kick off soon. Remember how I said I wouldn’t see it, well that is because the sign stated that the show was temporarily cancelled due to measurements of Legionella bacteria in the seawater pool being higher than the recommended amount.
As I’ve done Legionella bacteria control training for work I know that this means there are too many bugs swimming in the water and if they jet it up into the air and create a mist with it, the bacteria can disperse and float into the crowd, whereupon it might enter a lung of someone breathing in the mist. Legionnaires disease is a killer so I am glad that they hav eput a hold on this. It did make me think about the water that was making the mist in the Inochi Park though. I’m told by the websites that it’s fine and treated before being dispersed. Gulp.
It was a shame that this show wasn’t going to happen, on youtube you can find clips of it and it looks amazing. I’d still rather not see it and be alive though thanks. There was another show planned also for around 20:00hrs in the shape of a light, laser and drone show so I made sure I was sat in a good place by the Legionnaires Lagoon to see this.
The daylight had all but ebbed away and the grand ring remained illuminated when the music started and lights started shining around the sky. Then the sound of a thousand drones made its way over to the seated spectators and then the light show began. Shapes, figures, words and amazing effects were displayed in the air just behind the grand ring. Weirdly there were adverts too for the sponsors including Cycling competition: Keirin. The show continued for around 10 minutes before the drones spelled the words Exit : East and West with arrows guiding us away, the words would be replaced by the Japanese characters too alternately. It was all very clever but I think the water show would have been even better to see.
After the show I made my way back to the East Entrance/Exit and stopped in the Earth at Night pavilion where they were showing off a huge globe made using the traditional craft of Wajima-nuri lacquerware. There were sections that had also been made larger too, of cities around the globe as if it were nighttime and the city lights were showing the spiderweb-like structures of them. It was most impressive and I spent a good time in here marvelling at the skill of the craftspeople responsible for these works.
Once I’d been asked to make my way out of this exhibition, they were closing, I headed to the Expo Store to see if there was some official merch. I’d already purchased a couple of things at the UK Pavilion but thought I’d have a look for any gifts I might buy for my family. The queue to get in was very long and about a minute after I’d got into the shop they stopped any more entries. It was rammed, there was no room to move, the stuff was ll the usual sort of stuff in museum gift shops and I didnt see anything in particular that caught my eye. I figured if I had bought something then I’d be queueing for the til for another hour, it was packed. I squeezed and sumimasened my way out of the shop and headed for the exit and the train station beyond.
The crowd heading to the station was fairly large too, far larger than leaving Wembley after an England match. Since returning home I have found the visitor numbers for a day are between 150k and 200k per day. On the day I visited there were apparently 137,356 visitors. By the end of August there had been 19 million people through the gates, to me this is astonishing. Out of all of the people here too, there were few non-Japanese people, with a few Americans, Russians and Chinese visible too. There certainly weren’t very many 6’2″ big bald white blokes around and I felt a bit conspicuous sometimes, but at least I could see over the crowds…
Cooling down
I got back to the hotel at around 10pm and thought I might see if there those free drinks available in the reception lounge area. I supped about four glasses of 7UP with ice from the machine whilst sat at the window looking out over the main street. It was lovely and refreshing and meant I didn’t have to go and sit min my room immediately. Being a people watcher too was fun as there were some guests in there that would have made interesting photographs but I didn’t feel 100% comfortable capturing them in this environment so I left the camera on the table.
Off to bed after that after downloading the photos onto the macbook and the external backup drive, before getting the batteries on charge again for the next day. Then an early night to prepare for some more walking the next day.
Thurs 19th June 2025
Waking up and packing my bag for the day I had an idea of an itinerary that I wanted to try and hit, no pressure though. If i made it, good, if not then there was always Friday. A quick orange juice carton, bought the night before from a 7-Eleven around the corner saw me wake up ready for action.
Camera Shopping
First on my list for the day was a camera shop called Camera Kitamura in Umeda district, I’d google street viewed the place to ensure I knew where it was and when I got there the shutters were down. I went into a shop for a bottle of water and when I came out I noticed that the shutters were for the gnd floor jewellers, the camera shop was in the side door and up the stairs. I strolled over and in and had a short lift ride up to the fourth floor where there were many people in the shop all looking at the cameras and lenses as well as other accessories on display. It was a veritable smorgasbord of camera nerdery. The only thing I bought in here and on the 5th floor was a new remote shutter release for my Canon 5D whihc has started playing up the last few times I used it anywhere.
Closed Museums
Next on the list was a museum or two Nakanoshima Museum of Art (NAKKA) and the National Museum of Art were both close together as well as the Osaka Science Museum, but to my dismay, they were all closed. It was boiling hot, the sun was burning my neck again and Id wasted my time walking to this cluster of closed museums. Gutted. They all looked like interesting buildings too and I bet there would be some good photos to be had in them.
Umeda Station Photograph
From here I figured that I could head over to the Osaka Tower, or the Tsutenkaku tower in Shinsekai. So I headed to the Umeda station and had a wander around where I made my favourite photograph of the whole journey. It was a simple picture of a cab through a sliding door in a walkway under the Umeda Odori Overpass The lighting and the colours were perfect, giving me some leading lines, a frame within a frame, a full set of grids on the floor that gave it a perspective look too. The reflections of the chrome and the deep maroon taxi also massively appealed to me, and as soon as I’d captured it I knew that it would be one of my faves.
Kyobashi
Jumping back on the metro at Osaka/Umeda station I headed over to Shinsekai but stopped at Kyobashi station and popped out for a walk around as I’d seen some cool looking places through the train windows. I had a walk out onto the streets and found a market to have a wander around. There were many stores in this little market and people on bikes and walking around.
The stores were not as posh as the markets I had seen elsewhere and the people were not as flash with the cash, which led me to compare the mall with a shopping mall back at home. In Shrewsbury we had a shopping mall called the Riverside Shopping centre that has since been knocked down. The shopping centre was full of bargain shops and a market style area. There were cardboard signs with prices and words as well as rubbish blowing around the floor and posters all over the walls. This was the opposite of the Darwin Centre with the brand name shops and spotless floors and walls. The shopping center I was stood in at Kyobashi felt like the former, whilst Ginza Six felt more like the latter. There was a large plaster face on the wall with a bit of a caption coming from the mouth talking about the cost of rice and the fact that hoarders were keeping the price high, it seems protests here and in the UK can take similar forms.
As I was walking around I heard a bit of a musical marching beat with some singing and instruments and found that it was being emitted from a small band of people wearing some costumes that appeared to be advertising for a nearby prefecture. There were some younger people in the marching band with triangles and tambourines etc. The shop owners were were coming out to see where the sound was coming from and were all smiles. After a quick look around this area I got back on the metro and headed back to Shinsekai.
When I left the station here I saw yet another similar market street and carried on walking along. There were lots of restaurants and stores around and even a few shooting ranges, yep, shooting ranges. You know those air rifle ranges at the funfair, those. I’d not seen these anywhere else in Tokyo or Kyoto but here in Osaka there were a collection of them.
Tsutenkaku Tower
There was a street in front of me now and at the the end stood the tower, with a huge advert for Hitachi on the front of it, and a digital screen almost the full height. It looked like a budget version of the Tokyo Skytree, or just an old structure that had been around for many years, and covered with 40 layers of paint. It was opened in 1956 after the original was damaged in a fire, and is 103 metres tall. There was also a slide running some of way down but I don’t think it went very high up the tower.
The queue and ticket buying process all seemed to take place in a gift shop, which was overly populated by tacky souvenirs and all sorts of other stuff. Once all the way up in the lift you could look out and see the Osaka Zoo and the Osaka City Museum Of Fine Arts, which I thought I’d visit once I descended from these lofty heights. The whole experience of being up here seemed to be based around the statues of deities on every major compass direction. The overall vibe was a bit of a Blackpool tower one, a faint whiff of underinvestment and desperation. Once I’d been around the viewing platform a couple of times it was time to head down again, and again the exit is through the gift shop. It was chock full of stuff that I couldn’t possible buy as I have a great distaste for the sort of tacky products on display here. As I mentioned before with the gulf between the two shopping malls there was indeed a gulf between this attraction and Skytree or Tokyo Tower.
Out onto the street again now with a mission to look at the museum, and as I walked up the wide boulevard there was a film crew interviewing passers by, and then a little further on a shop that had been burnt out. This had caught fire in January this year and consisted of a retro games hangout called Zarigani, the shop was open to the street so anyone could just wander into the area if they’d wanted to. In the UK and other areas of Japan I’d imagine that this would be boarded up and sealed to prevent intrepid urban explorers from getting in there.
From the ground I looked back at the tower and behind the framework of the structure was a couple of workers using a crane jib to lift things up to the tower and down again. This activity was mostly hidden behind the large sign “Hitachi, Contributing to society”. On the walk to the zoo area I checked the temperature and it was over 30°C again so I walked in the shaded area of the street if I could. There were cyclists going past with umbrellas mounted on their handlebars for some shelter and also people in full head and face coverings as well as arm coverings to protect their skin from the UV of the sun.
Another Closed Museum
Upon reaching the museum I found it to be closed and not looking like it was about to open any time soon. I hung around as there was a Japanese flag fluttering by the main entrance and wanted a couple of photos of this. I had only really seen another flag on the rear of the boat that took me up the Sumida in Tokyo. A quick look at the rest of the face of the building led me to another door which allowed some access into the civic galleries, similar to the galleries I had seen in the museum in Ueno park. these were works by arty civilians of the town, city, country.
A large gallery held examples of some fine calligraphy on large sheets of paper and other mediums for what seemed to be some sort of grand competition. It is a highly skilled art using the large brushes and ink, knowing that a false move could leave you wasting a huge sheet of paper. There were a couple of other galleries, mainly of art by local artists but nothing that I will remember for a long time.
Abeno Harukas
With the next item on my list for the day being Abeno Harukas building and the observatory atop it, I headed that direction, with a short trip on a metro. I arrived at the building and following the instructions on the voucher I’d bought online I headed to the 16th floor in the lift. Here the voucher was exchanged for a ticket and a ride in the lift.
Popping out in the observatory level I could see all around the city of Osaka. It appeared to be much lower rise than Tokyo’s skyline but there were a large number of shorter tower buildings around the further reaches. From up here you could also see the port and the area where I had been the day before at the Expo, the sun had started setting so I bought a bottle of stout and a cold coke, then took a seat and watched the sun descend, so that I might see some scenery in the nighttime.
I could see the museum and Tsutenkaku that I’d just come from and they looked tiny, compared to where I was now stood. It was difficult taking photographs through the glass here as there were many reflections around from items behind me. I did also see a guy with a rubber cup on the front of his camera lens that blocked out much of this unwanted content. Not a bad idea.
300 metres up in the air over Osaka gave me a wonderful view as the highways and roads around the city all lit up like arteries in a map of the body. The city spread out towards the distant hills on one side and Osaka bay the other direction. A gift shop here featured iconic images of Godzilla from the exhibition that was also taking place at the observatory. I picked up a t-shirt of Godzilla in the waves of the picture by Hokusai “the great wave off Kanagawa”. Might be a bit tacky but the quality of the gifts here were a little better than those of the tiny Tsutenkaku. I purchased a blue bear keyring for my daughter due to a running joke. More on that in another post later.
Dotonbori Again
The next place on the very rough itinerary was Dotonbori, by the river again. I hadn’t had my Canon 5D mkIV with me last time I was there so I wanted to go back and get some better quality low light images. The 5D seems to handle these night time shots much better than the 60 megapixel Leica Q3.
Whilst walking around this busy area there were taxis and cars all over the place with people on bikes and groups of people milling around, some trying to get the perfect selfie and some on their way around a bar crawl or sightseeing tour. I saw in the rows of shop fronts here another couple of the rifle ranges where you could win some prizes for achieving a good score.
On the riverside again there were still countless people posing in front of the Glico running man sign so I had a few photos around here before spotting that there was a chance to go on a boat ride up the river. I followed a woman with a sign to a counter where I paid my £8 or so and then got on a boat that went up and down the river through the illuminated sections. I saw a few different angles of the same thing I’d been photographing from the shore but it was a bit of an experience.
Now it was time to wander back to the hotel after another looong day. On the way back I came across two smart looking vehicles, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari so I hung around snapping a few pictures but I don’t think they were parked in a particularly photogenic spot so wasn’t really happy with the pictures that came out of this. I also found a few opportunities to try panning shots of vehicles as they went past on the roads. I found an illuminated konbini too that people were cycling or walking past and I liked the silhouetting of them as they were backlit by the shop front.
Got back to the hotel at about 11pm and was thinking about what to do for tomorrow when I figured that I could book tickets for the theme park.
Friday 20th June 2025
Last night whilst getting into bed I booked a single ticket for Universal Studios Japan (USJ) which isn’t far away from my hotel.
I got a bit mixed up on the metro after getting on a train that was going to split off to a different route, so I got off at the next stop once I realised, and turned around to head back then ended up on the right platform. It’s the same as the Tube in London, if you make a mistake just get out at the next stop and switch directions, no need to start panicking or stressing. In fact I’ve found some great places by taking a wrong turn on a walk or getting on the wrong train.
Universal Studios Japan
After the short walk from the Nishikujo station I got to USJ at 10 o’clock-ish
Upon first arriving here, you are greeted with the City Walk, a short street of shops and restaurants for those who want gifts and food before they go in, or on the way back out at the end of the day.
It was so hot already that people are wearing covers over their arms, faces and everywhere else. A good number of people are sporting funny hats, like Mario or Luigi and even Snoopy. I noticed at the expo the day before that Snoopy and Peanuts seems to be quite a phenomenon here in Japan. Not somethign that we see a lot of back in the UK.
Potterverse
First pleace to head to was Hogsmeade, part of the Harry Potter themed area.There was a Hogwarts Express steam locomotive there and many people in wizards robes all trying their hands with wands at “secret” challenges you can find around the village. A small outdoor stage show is just ending featuring a Hippogriff like Buckbeak from the films. It’s a pantomime horse really and I think it’s a bit of a poor attempt, but kids will find it be absolutely magical.
After this I walked towards the Hogwarts Castle and there was a ride that I could queue up for, so I did. The queue didn’t look too bad, was in the shade and it was roasting hot. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was the ride, and I remember this one from Universal Florida back in 2016 when I visited there with my family. Whilst queueing there were signs that mentioned the ride should be avoided if you suffer from motion sickness or dizziness. I remember the ride from 9 years previous so knew that some of the ride consisted of practical effects and then some of it in front of immersive screens that made you feel like you’re on a broomstick flying over the castle.
I suffer hugely from motion sickness if I body is doing something that my eyes don’t see, racing games on computers, first person shooters and VR goggles all make me feel really dodgy, really quickly. I fugred that I would stay in the queue and see what happens once on the ride. The build up to the ride was fun, with paintings on the walls moving as they do in the Potterverse, the language was obviously changed to Japanese for the characters from Harry, Ron and Hermione to Dawn French’s character and even the Sorting Hat.
Once my bag was stashed away in the lockers and I was on the bench of seats I prepared myself. The ride got underway and when it got to the sections in front of the screens I kept my eyes closed. This is the only way I would be able to walk out of the gift shop without being sick on a plushy Hedwig.
There was another ride called Flight Of The Hippogriff too, but the queue was huge for that so I left it well alone. I was walking around with my Q3 and M6 and then wandered out of the Potter themed location and into Amity Island. The location for Jaws, the movie. The ride was closed, for some reason
Jaws at Amity
Then went into Amity area but the Jaws ride was closed, I felt like buying a cooling drink so I popped into Amity Ice Cream and had a Coke Float which was really nice and refreshing but the Ice Cream just melted immediately into the drink.
With not a lot else going on in Amity, I walked past the front gate of Jurassic Park before heading to Waterworld, which is the large stunt show spectacular, similar to the Indiana Jones show we saw in Florida. The queue seemed to take ages, but I was at the front and it was around 45 mins to wait but worth it. Once in I selected a seat outside of the “Splash Zone” as I didn’t want to get my cameras completely soaked.
Waterworld Show
The warm up men started the show and started spraying water from their water pistols at the crowd, before picking on a bloke to tak ethe mickey out of. It was quite funny, but I could not make out a single work od what they were saying.
The show didn’t need too much dialogue though, it was fairly easy to pick out the plot and how they were going to overcome the baddie. There were many pyros, jet skis, speedboats and hover boats all ready to thrill the crowds. The baddies were introduced with bangs and shotguns, the goodies were introduced with shouting at the baddies and the loveliest of outfits. There were ziplines and high drops off platforms into the pool below, some whilst people were on fire. It was impressive, considering they do it multiple times per day also.
At one point a huge plane crashed over the wall of the set and into the pool in front of the crowd with a big splash and explosions. It was probably the experience that I remember the most from the whole day and I would recommend this over the 3D VR nonesene of the Harry Potter ride every time.
Jurassic Park Ride
Then it was time to travel back in time, I had John Williams theme going through my head as I passed under the gates of Jurassic Park and into the 30 minute queue for the water ride through the park. There was no requirement to put bags in lockers on this ride so I held onto it tightly and when told to put it by my feet I would have loved to comply but there was simply no room. My legs would hardly fit and the bar that comes down to hold you into the seat seemed a bit snug, but then I am a little larger in dimensions than the usual people who would be riding this attraction.
It started with a few gentle dinos popping out from the scenery and a few troubling shadows of ‘raptors before the big splash down from height. To be fair I got absolutely soaked but I wasn’t the only wet visitor. Many of the people got off dripping, and I stopped by the photo booth, where I thought I would buy the digital download of my ride but they gave me a huge print also. I’d have to carry this around for the remainder of the day too.
Flying Dinosaur Shakedown
I had previously booked a ticket for the timed entry at Super Nintendo World and it was now approaching 3, with the entry at 3:40pm. I headed that way but came across a short queue for single riders of the Flying Dinosaur ride, a part of the Jurassic Park area. I banged my belongings in a locker, phones, glasses, wallets, bags and everything had to be locked away. It was a ride like Air at Alton Towers where you mount into the car and then get strapped in before the whole thing lifts up and you’re hanging face down. As it started moving and shaking it was exciting and the g force really helped me feel my considerable weight. It wasn’t a pleasurable ride and felt like I’d been through tests to be a Cosmonaut. Months later I’m still feeling the effects of this ride on my skeleton.
Super Nintendo World
After this exertion it was time for a bottle of coke from a nearby vending machine and then off to queue for Super Nintendo World. There was an American lady behind me who had a ticket for the entry at the same time as me, who felt like she didn’t need to queue with everyone else as she’d miss her time, she was getting a little antsy about it too. Occasionally I would talk to people like this to try and help them relax but there was not going to be any point with this particular person. Queueing it seems, is a national past time for the Japanese as well as the Brits so I just got on with it and then once at the front I was allowed in.
Super Nintendo World is an overloading experience of noise, music, sounds, animatronic characters and I could see that if there was someone who struggled with being over stimulated then this place would be far from ideal. There were many guests here with huge foam Mario, Bowser and Luigi hats on and even full costumes, whilst it was absolutely roasting hot.
It didn’t seem like a large place, the queue for the Mario Kart ride was a bit excessive so I left it alone, choosing instead to find parts of the park and people within to capture on film and digital sensor. This is a place for colour films all day long and the photos that have come out of it do not do it justice as to just how overpowering it all is.
After leaving this completely crazy place I had a walk back through the park stopping at the Diner for some fries and a milkshake before planning the rest of the afternoon/evening. I had used up almost an entire roll of Kodak Gold 200 in the park and had to change to another before leaving for the next attraction.
Tempozan Ferris Wheel
Whilst at the expo and up the Abeno Harukas I had noticed a huge ferris wheel. I fancied seeing if I could find it for a quick squint at the scenery around the area. I used my google maps to find out that the Tempozan Ferris Wheel was very close and after a short metro journey I ended up underneath the wheel, buying a ticket for very little (900¥, £4.25) I was up to the front of the queue for a swift ride around the whole circumference.
With good views over a docked cruise liner and then out over the city, the port and even the Expo site it was easily the best 900￥I’d spent. It was getting close to the full sunset too so I figured I’d made a good choice.
Then it was time to figure out what to do on my last night in Osaka before heading back to Tokyo to be near Haneda airport. I headed back to the hotel and as it had been so hot I felt a little dehydrated so I made good use of the free 7 Up in the hotel reception and sat down until I was quite chilled again. Once refreshed and happy I walked back to the lobby lift and up to the 7th floor.
I made sure everything was packed up ahead of the transfer back to Tokyo in the morning, I wasn’t going to send my case by mail again as I’d never see it in time at the airport so had to travel with it on the Shinkansen. Once I was happy that the room was semi-tidy I grabbed my Canon 5D and walked back up to Amerikamura or Amerika Village. On the way three I walked through the shopping market of Shinsekai which was interesting to see. These huge global brands alongside smaller local brands and even the ubiquitous Gashapon stores with hundreds of machines dispensing plastic balls of toys and collectables. I stopped in one here and picked up a toy of a Mazak machine, as we have them in the factory at my work.
Amerikamura
Then I got to Mitsu Park (also known as Triangle Park) in Amerikamura and saw a group of people skating in the central area or the square if you like. It was surrounded by steps on one side, a small statue of a child and two rabbits seemed to be one side and then the other two sides were alongside two roads. The shops and bars in the areas were themed a little more western than probably seen elsewhere but not so much that I would have noticed. There is a Statue Of Liberty statue (mini size) here too but I never saw it. Just how small is it?
This area is obviously popular with skaters and tourists, but apparently there is often a group of stand up comics who come and practice their material out on the street too. I saw no comedians though, apart from the skaters, som eof them were very funny indeed. There were a couple of dudes, one a stoner skater and the other a salaryman who were miming a game of badminton, with serves and all sorts of strange bounces. I think alcohol had something to do with it, and around the small park there were cool looking people with skateboards and bottles of beer from the nearby Lawson Stores konbini.
There were some of the skaters taking a long run up to a set of steps t(three large steps) and then performing kick flips and all manner of tricks off the top, trying to land them. There were many falls, som espectacular, some successes, greatly celebrated and many people spectating. There were even a few people who walked across the area, either because they hadn’t noticed what was happening, or just wanted to make a point.
There was a little kid there with his mum too, she was pretty cool also, stood watching him and drinking whilst interacting with the skaters. I watched the skaters and how they worked with each other to learn new skills and take care of each other, it was very heartwarming to see how they look after their brothers in skate.Most skaters were Japanese but there was one, who I think was a Brit who was doing tricks and making friends with the locals.. I got the feeling that he lives here in Osaka and is trying to find his crowd.
Every now and again a modified vehicle would drive past very slowly, aiming to catch attention before it moved away from the traffic lights and down to the next posing spot. A Honda Civic, a Citroen SM from the 70’s, a Toyota GT 86, a Toyota Crown Imperial with the suspension lowered and wheels at all sorts of rad angles. There was even a Harley Davidson that stopped whilst playing some music from its onboard speakers that didn’t fit in with the vibe. It was a bit odd in fact and had the same feeling as the guy who walks around my hometown with a ghetto blaster playing Crazy Frog, Star Wars theme tune or the Beatles.
I hung around here for at least an hour before taking a walk back towards my hotel, stopping a couple of times for cool cars, and even a couple of guys seemingly filming a pop video or insta video on a Mazda RX8.
Night walk
On the way back I walked back down Shinsaibashi Suji shopping street and although there were few shops open there were a few people around. Even a palm reading person who had a temporary stall set up with a couple of customers having their own readings being done.
Heading out of this shopping street and crossing the blocks towards my last night in an Osaka hotel I came across a salaryman sitting on the ledge of a shop window, briefcase next to him, laptop pc on his lap. All business apart from bars and clubs were closed and this guy obviously needed to get some work done before heading home. It often happens that these businessmen are too late getting out of work and miss their trains, choosing to do a bit of plein-air work before sleeping on the street for the night and heading back once the trains restart in the morning.
I got back to the hotel at around 11:30pm and went to bed pretty quickly figuring I’ve got a busy day planned for tomorrow. The only thing I was doing every night upon returning to the hotel was downloading all of my images to the laptop and 5TB drive as well as charging some batteries.
Saturday 21st June 2025
OSAKA to TOKYO
The check out time at this hotel was 11am but as I’d already prepared and woke up in good time I checked out at 10:30 and walked to the Hommachi metro station. With my huge case, camera backpack and my messenger bag the steps felt numerous and steep.
Shinkansen Return
My destination on this train was Shin Osaka where I could catch the Shinkansen Bullet Train towards Tokyo where I would exit the train at Shinagawa. It was boiling hot again when I got to the ticket booking counter for Shinkansen but it didn’t take too long. I booked it with a luggage space also so I wasn’t annoying other passengers with it in between my feet. Apparently this one of the greatest faux pas you can make when travelling on the Shinkansen so I was careful to avoid it.
With my ticket for less than £30, in my sweaty mitt I raced towards platform 27 for a ride on car 13 seat 17E. My luggage was safely ensconced in the large case holding location but I couldn’t figure out how to operate the strange cable lock device with my suica card so I left it looking like it was locked and hoped that nobody would try it. I also could see it in the location when the door to the carriage opened.
The train was busy again, but very quiet. It’s interesting to see the conductors and ticket inspectors moving through the train too. Every time they enter a carriage, the bow, and when they leave they turn and bow once more. It shows a form of politeness but feels a little unnecessary to me. I was sat in seat E so I had a view out of the window of Mt Fuji as we sped past. There were many industrial parts of the countryside visible too, and I liked trying to catch these in the camera with Fuji in the rear as a bit of context. I tried some panning shots but the train was moving far too fast for that.
Arrival at Shinagawa was around 14:00hrs then I walked to the Tokyo Monorail which would continue my journey to Tennozou Isle where mu hotel was located. This was around 15 minutes away from Haneda airport on the monorail so I knew I’d have plenty of time the next morning to arise from the hotel and head out for my journey back to the UK.
As I was heading out of the station at Shinagawa, my ticket for the Shinkansen went through the barrier but it went red and alarmed with a red light and the guy behind the counter gave me a little ticket to get through but it still seemed to be weird. I continued on anyway. I couldn’t see that I was in a journey on my Suica app so I thought there might be trouble ahead.
There was trouble ahead. When I got to Tennozu Isle the gate wouldn’t let me out. Possibly because I hadn’t been thought to have been in the rail network. I pressed intercom near the gate and a fella said something in Japanese, I explained in English what had happened and the light went green for me to exit. If he hadn’t I would have just tailgated someone through, there was loads of time for the gate to be open, it was nothing like the underground in London. As a result of this confusion I think the trip from Shinagawa to Tennozu Isle was free.I’d been using my Suica app all week on my iPhone and ot was very handy. When the finds started dipping I could simply add further funds and continue.
Tennozou Isle
A short walk from the station to the hotel using google maps, what did we do before gps on phones?, and I arrived at the Toyoko Inn hotel. I thought it was Tokyo Inn but hadn’t noticed the typo when I was booking. I tried checking in at 14:30 and they told me that I’d not be allowed up to the room until 3 pm. It didn’t look as nice a hotel as I’d been in the rest of the fortnight and was more like a cheap travel lodge or some sort of hostel.
Ten minutes later they shouted that I could now go up to my room. The room (361) was nowhere near as nice as the others but then again it is only a 3 star, the room is tiny, the bathroom smaller still and the mattress on the bed is rock hard, no give in it at all. It wasn’t until about 1am that I worked out the Air Conditioning was on dehumidify rather than being on cool too.
After checking in to the room I made my way out to Shinjuku to go and watch a film in the large Toho cinema where my hotel was last year when I stayed. On the train towards Shinjuku I used the Toho cinema app to check the availability of seats, and Toho Shibuya had more available so I headed there. I have been looking forward to seeing this film, 28 Years Later, for a long time.
As I was a little early I went to the scramble crossing to take some pictures and found a little “beer park”, the Ninja beer park which was a bit of wasteland with a few tables on it, then I had a couple of IPAs and relaxed a little before the two minute walk to the cinema.
Shibuya Cinema
Once I had a ticket from the machine in the foyer I bought a large coke with no ice (thanks google translate) and and a large caramel popcorn. I had read up on cinema attendance before this visit and I found that they have Salted and Caramel popcorn rather than the UK options of Salted and Sweet.
There was far too much caramel on the popcorn so I only ate about 1/3 of it. The remainder waited in the bucket on the special little drinks and popcorn holding tray they lend you, At the end of the film I’d pop it all into the bin as I didn’t want to make myself really sick, it was just too sickly sweet. Part of the customs around cinemas tells me that the Japanese movie goers generally wait until the very end of the credits to stand up and leave, as they like to pay sincere thanks to all of the makers. Only when the last credit rolled did the majority of the people stand to leave the theatre. When I stood to make way for the others deeper into my row, I knocked the bucket of popcorn to the deck and it went everywhere. I tried my best to get on the floor and sweep it into the bucket again as a few people sniggered at the foreigner making a fool of himself. I got most of it but there was still some on the floor and decided that I’d tried hard enough so that was good enough.
When you exit the screen they are waiting with bins to segregate the waste and I tipped what was left into the bag before making my way outside back to the scramble crossing and the area surrounding it, taking some photos as I went along. There were some very busy areas around this section and I don’t think I’ve spent too much time in this part of town before so it was interesting to see. many people and vehicles all vying to be noticed as if this were some sort of fashion model or car show audition.
Once I had taken a few more photos I headed back to Tennozu Isle on the Yamanote Line and Monorail so I could catch some sleep before needing to be up on the morning. With jetlag still harassing me a little I figured I would watch a film for a bit before going to sleep. I watched 20 mins of 28 Days Later on the laptop before switching it off to go to sleep on the harshest mattress I have ever known.
Sun 22nd June 2025
HND – CDG – BHX
My alarm went off at 5:50am and I was up and ready, with a quick wash and toilet stop before making sure everything was packed and ready. I put the Pocket Wifi device into my shoulder bag so I didn’t forget to drop it off, and then went to check out. A quick 5 minute walk to the station and then escalators all the way with an arrival at the airport 19 minutes later. My plane was due to leave at 08:50 so I wanted to get in and not risk missing the boarding.
Haneda
Haneda Terminal 3 for flight AF187 was on the board as on time so I disappeared to drop off my Ninja Wifi device. I had to wait for ten minutes as there was nobody there until 6:30 and once handed over I was on my way to check in my bag. Air Pants once again came through and were about to screw up my baggage some more. I was given a Priority pass for boarding, possibly due to being dicked about on the way out here and someone said I coudl avoid the small queue to go to the priority bag check in counter. I was watching the staff before I was called forwards and one of the Air Pants staff had put a suitcase on the scales ready to be dragged onto the conveyor but didn’t tell the lady I was about to deal with.
As she was doing all of the paperwork she printed off the baggage labels and was about to attach them to the bag that was already on the scale when I stopped her. I explained that my bag wasn’t on the scales yet, and she argued with me. She had to get her colleague to explain what he had done before she allowed me to put my bag on the scales and then get tagged correctly. Who knows what would have happened to that persons baggage if I had let Air Pants screw them too.
There wasnt a great deal to do in the airport, many of the shops were closed as it was too early and I wandered aroudn for a while before grabbing some snacks for the flight. The flight should leave Haneda at 8:50 am and land in Paris at 16:35 Paris time, before a 5 hour wait for the flight to Birmingham so it was going to be a long long day.
On the plane from Haneda to Paris I watched a few films but didn’t have as much space as i’d had on the outbound journey. I was in the window seat and the other two passengers were very quiet so I would have felt uncomfortable annoying them with toilet visits etc. I didn’t drink much and held myself until absolutely desperate. In most cases I waited for them to move before I stood too. It was a 14 hour flight so I switched ont he in flight entertainment and connected my noise cancelling Airpod Pros to watch American Fiction, Edge of Tomorrow, JoJo rabbit, and also a bit of Matrix Resurrections.
We flew over Greenland at one point of the flight and it looked amazing. I slept only for about an hour maybe 90 mins so wasn’t fully rested by the time we got to Paris. The security made me empty my camera backpack and messenger bag totally again, with everything back out onto four of the big grey trays. As I was going through security the guy in front of me had his bag searched, he had a few shurikens (throwing stars) in his bag so they took these away. Then when it came to my bag I thought it would be the cameras they were worried about but they had spotted a multi tool in the front pocket of my bag that he promptly confiscated. Fair play I had forgotten that it was there.
Paris CDG
The next flight was at 21:45 from Terminal 2E AF1564 so I sat and waited in the departure lounge area.
Whilst waiting I tried to play on the PS5s that were there, but they were all goosed. I watched the end of 28 Days Later and then the whole of 28 Weeks Later on my laptop in the terminal with my earphones in to avoid scaring any kids in the locality. There was absolutely nothing else to do, and it would have cost £90 to have access to the Air Pants Lounge so I stayed in the departure lounge and waited.
The flight left on time (for a change) but when it got into the Birmingham at 21:56 the bus took so long to get to the plane that we did not leave the plane until 22:17. Then there was a short bus ride to the terminal before leaving the arrivals area and going to meet my wife out near the multi storey car park where she had been waiting for me.
Once in the vehicle she drove me the two hours home and we chatted about the events that had taken place whilst I was away, both at home and in Japan. As soon as I got home I hit the hay and slept like a baby.
The next day i would be downloading all of the images from the camera SD Cards onto my Mac Studio PC and sorting them out a little. I was off work so I didn’t need to be alert for that or anything so it was an easy day to get back into the swing of it.
Another couple of posts will be coming out featuring this trip to Japan, there will be one showcasing some of my favourite images made on the journey, another of my overall experience, and another based on a little blue bear’s journey across the country. Feel free to hit me up with any questions or comments.
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