Monday 14 June 2010

Japan trip 11th day, Osaka Castle - Kansai Airport (Last day)

Day 11th, Osaka Castle was our last journey. We had to wake up early, 5AM, to visit this place and back to airport (Kansai). It's an interesting place, one of the biggest castle (jō) in Japan.

Originally called Ozakajō, it is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Osaka Castle is situated on a plot of land roughly one kilometer square. It is built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, using a technique called Burdock piling, each overlooking a moat. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from sword-bearing attackers.


Surrounded by a big park, we saw some young and old people came for exercise or just for killing their time.


Amateur fisherman

The Akita Inu (秋田犬)  is a breed  of large dog  originating in, and uncommon outside of Japan, named for Akita Prefecture, where it is thought to have originated. It is sometimes called the Akita-ken based on the Sino-Japanese reading of the same kanji. In most countries (with the exception of the American and Canadian Kennel Clubs), it is considered a separate breed from the American Akita, as requested by the Japanese Kennel Club. "Inu" means "dog."


Symbols

Kansai International Airport (関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō)  is an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Ōsaka Station, off the shore of the cities of Sennan  and Izumisano and the town of Tajiri  in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It should not be confused with Osaka International Airport, which is closer to the city and now handles only domestic flights.

It was ranked 4th overall in the Airport of the Year 2006 awards named by Skytrax, after Singapore Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and Munich Airport. The airport serves as an international hub for All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines, and is one of the man-made structures that can be seen from outer space.


We took lunch @ airport before while waiting for boarding.

Flight lunch menu.

Infrared

It was a very interesting journey @ Japan and we love to come back again someday.