Yes, the bed was significantly more comfortable that the one in Tokyo! And my calf muscles were much less sore than the day before! Whilst Michael went off for his morning jog, I updated my blog, and then we headed downstairs for breakfast. I worked out our plan for the day -- we would visit the Osaka Castle (a replica of the main tower of an earlier castle that had been destroyed), come back to the hotel to freshen up, and then catch the train to Hannan, an area south of Osaka where our first Japanese exchange student (Yukiko) lives with her husband and two small children.

A very helpful railway attendant helped us to purchase our subway day passes, and then even chased up with us to give us a brochure that would give us 10% discount at some tourist sites! (He also popped his head out between the ticket machines to assist with buying the tickets, just as the woman the evening before had . It's hard to appreciate in the photo I snapped of this occasion, but both occasions did look quite comical.)

The majestic castle failed to impress us greatly, as the interior museum displays were tired and so 'last century'. Most of the audio-visual displays on one level appeared to be out of order or perhaps they were just taking too long to reload. The information, from an English-speaking person's perspective, was disjointed and so I didn't really gain a coherent understanding of the history of the area, except for the fact that an historical figure tried to unify the country, but as he produced no heirs, things changed after he died (and the capital of Japan was moved to another city -- it seems to have changed a few times over the centuries). As I expected, the Internet provided me with a better understanding of the castle's history: http://www.osakacastle.net/english/history/index.html.

The surrounds of the castle failed to impress, the unkempt garden and the unsightly (and unused) military building in need of some attention . Michael and I thought the area, with its spectacular views over the city, could be developed in such a way to make it a perfect place for visitors. (We walked around the back of the castle where no other tourists were venturing -- with the lovely shady trees and great views, it is certainly an under-utilised area with lots of potential. 

The lawns outside the castle (across the expansive moat) were also unkempt; such a contrast to the manicured lawns we saw in Tokyo. What did impress were the large stones used to construct the castle walls. How they managed to transport these boulders and slabs, and then manouevre them into position is a mystery (with a number of plausible hypotheses, of course).

After freshening up at our hotel and buying a couple of bottles of Australian wine from the nearby supermarket, we caught the subway one stop to the Namba station where we bought our tickets to Hannan to visit Yukiko. Despite me showing the salesman the instructions that Yuki had sent via Messenger, I quickly realised that he had sold us tickets to Wakayama (the instructions had said to make sure we got on the train that goes to Wkayama, but not to actually go that far). Fortunately, he willingly cancelled those tickets, refunded our money, and organised the correct tickets for us.

Ten minutes later, we were sitting on the train, logged in to the free wifi service, sending messages to Yukiko to let her know that we were on our way . We transferred trains at the designated station -- the local train was already waiting for us on the other side of the platform. And a few minutes later, we were at our destination. Yukiko's big smile greeted us, as I tried to find our tickets so that we could exit the station. (I accidentally put the subway pass in, and pushed my way obliviously through the gate, only then realising my error. After much searching, they turned up in Michael's pocket (the second time this has happened now!). I usually take responsibility for our tickets so that we can find them easily, as I always keep them in the same compartment of my bumbag. However, on this occasion, Michael had asked to look at them to see if he could read the information on them -- he obviously failed to return them!

We were greeted with a warm hug by Yukiko whom we had last seen 19 years ago after she had spent just over two weeks staying with us as part of an exchange program. (She was not even 14 years old at the time! Although she had been initially overwhelmed by the cultural differences and had dissolved into tears when I foolishly asked her if she was homesick, the tears she shed on the bus when we said goodbye to her were tears of sadness . Yuki told us that whilst she hadn't really liked studying English before her visit to Australia, her experience with us was life-changing -- when she returned to Japan, English suddenly clicked for her, and she subsequently went on to become an English teacher at junior high level!)

Yuki introduced us to her children -- Koutaro (3) and Emma (almost 1), and then drove us the few minutes back to her house. We played with the children whilst she prepared dinner, and then we went for a walk around the neighbourhood whilst we waited for her husband Takuma to arrive home from work. (He is also a teacher, and had had to supervise tennis coaching after school.) The cool evening breeze was very refreshing. 

Koutaro had overcome his initial shyness when I showed him the puzzle games on my iPad that Oaki loves playing. We even had a video call with Oaki and Alisha -- I'm not sure what sense Oaki made of his Nini & Papi (yes, Alisha -- I'm experimenting with new spelling of our names -- what do you think ...or are you even reading my blog?!) playing with 2 strange children! He did look somewhat perplexed. As we headed out on our walk, Koutaro held out his hand to Michael, indicating that he wanted to hold his hand. :-)

When Takuma came home, we sat down to a typical summer meal for Osakans with various pickled vegetables, fish, cold noodles, etc. I think we have mastered the slurping sounds that are appropriate to use when eating one's noodles!

At about 9:15, Yuki and Koutaro drove us back to the railway station where we said our farewells. We'd had a lovely evening and just hope that we can meet again some day. (People in Japan can generally only get a week or two off work at the most, and so international travel opportunities are very limited.

We stopped for supplies at the local supermarket before getting back to our hotel and calling it a night.

P.S. You will notice a black smudge in most of my photos -- sadly, there's a fleck of dirt on the INSIDE of my camera lens, and there's nothing I can do about it...except Photoshop my photos when I get back home. :-(