Thursday 7th March
After 5 days at sea we have arrived in Osaka, Japan. We were expecting it to be quite cold but it has been very sunny and during the day it has been warm. We had to get up early to queue for Japanese immigration at 7 am. The queue went from one end of the ship to the other and back again but once it got going it was fairly quick. We went on a tour this morning starting at the Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine. There is a lovely bridge called the Taiko-bashi bridge which is very steep, this leads to the main gateway of the shrine. It is a Shinto Shrine and there were several Hongu buildings where people go to pray. They don't enter the building but stand at the entrance, give some money, pull the rope to ring a bell, bow and pray. They go to each of the Hongu buildings to pray.
We continued our tour by driving to Osaka Castle. The history of the castle dates back 400years but the main tower that you can see in the picture was destroyed by fire and this building is a replica that was built in the 1930's. We took a lift up to the top to see the views of Osaka. The gardens around the castle are full of cherry trees and plum trees that will look really lovely next month when the blossoms are out. We had a delicious chocolate ice cream before returning to the ship.
We are spending the evening here so we hope the area around the ship will look good after dark. We are next to a large Ferris wheel and gardens. There is a square with fountains that looks like it will be lit up later. We will put our coats on later and take a look.