17 Sep 2008 - Day 6: Osaka Castle and Rinku Outlet Shopping

This morning, we went to Osaka Castle to have a look as it is not far away from our hotel. This castle was founded on the site of Ishiyama Hongan-ji by the great medieval warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a symbol of his achievement. The construction was launched in 1583; however, the castle was heavily damaged when Hideyoshi lost the Summer War of Osaka. Repeated reconstruction and renovations over 400 years have made it possible to preserve this Osaka's symbol.

After yesterday's experience, we decided to give it a miss to enter this castle. However, we took quite a number of nice photos outside of the castle ground.



It was a hot day and after walking around the castle for close to an hour, we were all very tired. I cannot imagine if we were to climb up the castle like yesterday. Next, we took the train to Rinku Town which is one stop away from Kansai International Airport.
There is a Factory Outlet shopping complex of premium brand and beside it is a place called Rinku Pleasure Town where kids will enjoy.


When it comes to shopping, no one can beat Jerlene, the super shopping queen. See how excited she was........


After about 2 hours of shopping, we took a break but Jerlene was still full of energy.

After we had enough shopping, we walked over to Rinku Pleasure Town for some fun.

There was an indoor playground that charges 500 yen per child per hour. It is much bigger than Go Go Bambini in Singapore. We decided to bring Jerlene in for some fun.




Indeed, it was great fun not just for Jerlene, but for myself as well. I finally had the chance to play "things" (such as the bouncing castle) that I've missed out in my childhood. Jerlene had so much fun that she refused to leave after one hour had passed. She also made some friends with a few Japanese kids in the playground. I took quite a few videos of Jerlene having fun and below are just a few. You can see more at http://www.youtube.com/geniuswwf.



After the fun time at the indoor playground, we went to a store next door that sells all kids stuff. More importantly, the price is very reasonable. We bought a lot more things from this store than the factory outlets that we went earlier. By the time we left Rinku, it was already very dark.
Before going back to our hotel, we decided to go one more place, Tenjimbashisuji Shopping Street. This arcade is the longest (2.6km) in Japan. However, because it was already quite late, most of the shops had already closed.

End of Day 6 and tomorrow will be the last day in Osaka.....time really flies....sigh.........