Day 5: Osaka / Namba

Hello everyone!  Sorry for updating it so late, i had trouble with the pictures. Thank you for reading this blog. My name is Jennifer T, and i will be posting about our day which consisted of the Instant Ramen Museum, Osaka Castle, and the Kaiiyuukan Aquarium. We woke up today and ate breakfast at 7am. We got ready and met sensei downstairs again by 8. We took a train ride over to the Instant Ramen Museum. You're probably wondering what it is. The museum has a hands on activity to make Chicken Ramen, and/or Cup of Noodle. Your child should be bringing it back for a souvenir haha. So we learned how to make these. instant noodle packages on the right. We all got to decorate our own package so it is the only one and original package. Maybe you want to keep it, or maybe you want to eat it, but either way it's a fun memory.

We started making the noddles with the flour. We mixed flour with sesame oil and the broth flavoring. After forming solid ball, we placed it into a flattener/compressor to form the long thin noodles. After stretching it to only a 1cm thickness, we placed it into a cutter, to cut the noodles. After that we weighted it to 100 grams, then we placed it into a wired basket. The workers then took our basket and cooked it a bit. We got it back, and then we separated the noddles, and then we added a bit more flavoring. Then we placed it into the circle mold. Then we watched them fry it. After frying it, we got to place it into our original packages, and then they sealed to to form out special chicken ramen! The staff that helped us were really caring and wonderful.

After having a wonderful and fun time at the museum, we had to train it over to the Osaka Castle. We walked into a wonderful and lavished park. It was filled with other tourist. There were groups of people taking pictures and there were also people paying to enter inside the castle. We decided it was time to snack with the beautiful scenery. We bought takoyaki (octopus balls) and sat down to not only rest, but take in the wonderful area. Some of us played a game called "Dynasty Warriors/ Samurai Warriors" and it really is about the history of the ruling over Japan. So some of us felt like we were in the game. Walking around and trying to save Japan. Haha it was a very fun and interesting feeling. On our way out, we passed by a judo club. They were doing practice and opened it out to the public. We got to see judo practice by young student and it make you want to learn it! Haha well after observing the judo practice, we decided it was time to head over to the Aquarium. Since we still had time before entering the Aquarium, Sensei gave us one hour free time to either shop or eat. We all decided to do some shopping and some snacking.Toyomi and I went and got some more Takoyaki, and Curry Bread. After eating we got ice cream! I had Oreo flavor, and Toyomi had Pudding flavor. It was super delicious. After eating, we met up with sensei outside and went into the aquarium!

The aquarium felt super nice because the temperature was cool inside. Everyone went down the aquirum at there own pace. Toyomi and I walked around and saw the cute mini show they had with the seals. They were making the seals do tricks and making them come close to the window so people can take pictures. It was super cute. They are better trained then my dog, Nunu. Haha. We continied walking and in the middle of the whole aquirum is one whole single tank. A HUGE tank that contains Manta Ray and the famous Whale shark! However, we couldn't spot the whale shark. We were wondering where it went, and found out that they just got a new species they placed into the huge tank and the whale shark couldn't co-exisit with it yet, so they let him go on a tour while the new speices settled in. It was kind of upsetting that the main character wasn't in the tank, but none the less, all the other sea creatures were a site. It was beautiful, and i'm pretty sure we each found certain creature more appealing then others, so make sure to ask your child about those pictures! Hahaha.

After the aquarium, sensei took us to see the busy shopping streets of Namba. There was PACKS of people everywhere! It's sunday, so everyone was out and about shopping and having fun. We all decided to head back to the hotel and come back on our free day to shop, hopefully with less people then Sunday. Haha. After we got back to the hotel, some people went to meet up with their friends in Japan, while the others went with Sensei for some dinner with Ramen! The ramen was delicious and the service was super awesome. The sets were cheap, and we were complelety stuffed! After eating, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Some of us had to do some luandry while others just wants to rest their sore legs. I had to write this blog. Hahaha. Until tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed this LONG blog, and the pictures. ^^ Thank you for reading!