Golden Week Trip Day 3: Osaka

On Monday we started off with a trip to the Osaka Pokemon Center! It was madness with all these little kids (and grown ups) running around. I could only settle on a Togekiss plushie and could not find the will (or energy!) to browse other merchandise. But I will be going to the Tokyo Pokemon Center next week with my friend Shannon to reserve tickets for the new Pokemon movie (5th gen! so fast!) and shop while all the kids are stuck in school.

Togekiss and new Tako friend. :)

Afterward I got to meet up with the girl that I met at my summer camp job two years ago. She is now 11 and so much taller! We met up with her, her mom, and her English teacher (and mom's friend). They were very very nice and treated us to an amazing afternoon of food!

First we went to a restaurant where you make your own takoyaki. It was really fun and super delicious. After they ordered okonomiyaki - one regular and one topped with a bunch of cheese! Really good!

Before

They look like mush now but were soon converted into edible fried octopus balls!

They then asked us if we wanted to go get cake. I was already stuffed, but I figured cake is cake. We went into a department store and walked by this crazy looking restaurant with the most beautiful cakes I had ever seen.

And then we went in.

Oh my goodness! And those are mango roses! :O

We didn't try the above mango madness but we did have a selection of other really nice (looking and tasting) cake slices.

After saying goodbye, we headed over to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, home of the Whale Sharks (or ジンベエザメ). We had to wait for about an hour before getting to line up to go into the aquarium, and the aquarium itself was super crowded. But it was exciting to see all of the exhibits and animals - especially the giant whale sharks.

Stud penguin posing for pictures.

美味しそう！

Me and Elizabeth thought the giant crabs would make tasty crab legs. Some Japanese person behind us thought the same thing (and said it out loud) - we weren't alone!