Osaka 2013

I was last in Japan in 2004, when I visited Nara and Kyoto on my way home from a long trip to Hong Kong, China and Korea.  It was nice to visit again, though we stayed in Osaka the whole time this trip.

At Osaka Castle

Yeongmi and I left Seoul on Thursday night.  We did all of our airline boarding procedures at the train station in downtown Seoul.  We got our boarding passes, cleared immigration, and we could’ve checked our baggage too.  Then we took the high speed train to Incheon airport and went through some very short security lines.  We will be going home to Utah the same way.

The flight to Osaka was about an hour and a half.  We bought a 3-day rail pass at the airport and then took the train from Kansai airport in the middle of Osaka Bay to downtown and then rode the subway to Senri Chuo, which is north of downtown.

Friday was mostly free as the conference began that evening with a dinner at the hotel.  We used our rail pass to visit Osaka Castle.  Yeongmi paid the $3 fee and made me dress up as a samurai.  I think most samurai were a bit thinner and looked more intimidating.  After that we went to Kuromon market and ate lunch.  It’s a collection of shops and restaurants that sell all sorts of food, especially fresh seafood.  The market used to be outdoors along some narrow streets, but it now has a roof over the road and is much more upscale.  I had a beef and egg donburi.  Yeongmi had katsu curry udon.

Striking a Pose at Osaka Castle

Don't Mess with the Samurai!

From there we went to the south side of downtown and look around one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan at Shitennoji.

The weather was hot all weekend long and we were exhausted after that so we headed to the train station at Umeda which is a big shopping district.  We had an ice cream and then headed back to the hotel for the conference dinner and reception.

The Cemetery North of Shitennoji

Shitennoji

Yeongmi Asks for Good Fortune

On Saturday I attended several sessions in the morning while Yeongmi went shopping near the hotel.  In the evening we went to the 2^nd conference dinner at Osaka University where the conference was held.  It was a nice buffet like the night before.  We took the monorail back to Senri Chuo after dinner.

The Main Gate of Osaka University

Kar-yiu Wong, Yeongmi, and Chungmo Koo at the Dinner

 On Sunday we went to Ryokuchi Park just a few stops south of our hotel on the subway.  We visited an outdoor museum of traditional farmhouses that have been relocated there from all over Japan.  It thought it was pretty fun, but it was very hot and humid.  We went back to the university for lunch, and then I presented my paper in the afternoon.  It went very well, I think.

Farmhouse at Ryokuchi Park

Yeongmi Tilts at at Windmill

Inside a Farmhouse

An Exciting Presentation

 Given our flight schedule we left as soon as I was done and took a taxi to the train station we first arrived at in Osaka, Namba station.  Along the way we drove past the old airport which is now used only for domestic flights.  This is the one I landed at in 1980 on my way to Korea as a missionary.  We drove along the same expressway into town that we did 33 years ago.

We took the high speed limited express train to Kansai airport (32 minutes exactly) and flew back to Seoul.

Nankai Rapito Limited Express Train

 

I’ve posted photos of the trip on Panoramio and at 500 px.