Jet lag has me rising bright and early, which I love! Every day's been feeling nice and full, with gorgeous weather. Not too hot, not too cold!

Today, we hopped on the Shinkansen with our JR Rail passes to go to Osaka (Shin-Osaka station is just 1 stop from Kyoto station). Osaka is known for their food, but also their aquarium, so we grabbed an awesome deal which was the Osaka city pass. It's your admission to the aquarium, plus unlimited subway travel in Osaka for 1 day. The pass was just 2000円 and it was well worth it! Highly recommend for a day trip. 

The JR, like the Kyoto buses, were super easy! Each stop is numbered, so even if you have trouble with romaji, it's still easy to follow where to go. Each sign is in English and Kanji, so unless you're bad at public transit in general it'll be a cinch to blend in with the crowd. The Osaka pass we got is just a ticket you feed into the subway gate. So convenient!

Aquarium

At the aquarium, there were a lot of street performers doing awesome tricks! The aquarium itself was huge, with tons of really cute and scary fish. I'd say Toronto's Ripley's Aquarium is definitely on-par with Osaka's. At the end of the tour, you can even pet sting-rays and smalls sharks! A shark's skin feels like sandpaper, a stingray's is softer and slippery.

Dottonburi

After that, we went to Dottonburi for food! The street was packed and felt like a carnival with all the busy stalls and wacky building signs. It reminded me of a certain street in Niagara Falls...
I got the takoyaki (their famous squid balls in Osaka, with mayo and dressings). It was delicious!!

Osaka Pokémon Center

My feet were killing me by the time we finished there, but I also wanted to check out the Pokemon Center, so we hopped back on the subway. The trip was a blur since I was just trying to walk, but the Pokemon Center was bright and colorful! Lots of plushies and games to play... I was tempted to get a handkerchief because there are no hand towels or hand dryers in public washrooms in Japan that I've seen. Everyone carries a personal hand towel on them. I didn't get one though, hoping to find a more grown-up one somewhere late, haha. They were pretty cute though!

I was in so much pain by the end of the day that all I can report is that it was worth it to experience the place! Tomorrow will definitely be running shoes...