Now a long overdue post from my travels in the cities of Kansai (Southwest region) and a little more from Tokyo!

First stop on my trip was Osaka, Japan's third largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama:

We stayed right beside this seemingly endless shopping arcade:

I later found out it was around 2.6km long, and contained the most exciting supermarket I've ever seen, with neon scenes depicting everything from meat to vegetables:

Osaka Castle is impressive, surrounded by a moat and with great views of the city from the top. The Castle itself has been burnt down and rebuilt numerous times (like many old Japanese buildings), so it isn't actually that old:

Another Osaka highlight was the Aquarium, which housed an impressive Whale Shark and huge Rays, along with every other sea creature you could think of:

The Aquarium was on another man-made sea island which was a nice break from the city:

There was a traditional Japanese clothing (etc) shop on the way, and the whole building seemed to be vomiting kimonos and umbrellas from every opening (I wondered if it stayed like that all night or what):

That's all on Osaka - I'll get Kyoto up in the next post! Plenty more to come... <3