No temples today (thank chuff for that) and mostly lots of sitting in cafes.

We went to the Tempozan area of Osaka, the port, to visit the aquarium on Sheryn's recommendation. Two hours of admiring penguins, otters, sharks and freaky looking Japanese spider crabs later we emerged very relaxed into the blazing sunshine. We sat and watched an inept street magician who kept dropping his juggling balls (what is it with rubbish street acts in Japan?!) before going for food.

We tried okonomiyaki for the first time and it was awesome! They're like Japanese pancakes (ish) and are put on a hot plate built into your table. You cover them in Japanese worcestershire sauce and devour with your chopsticks. After that we were trapped in a shopping centre for two hours because of a horrendous torrential thunder storm. We were planning to go on the big wheel (the biggest in the world) but the thunder storm caused a power cut so it had stopped working. I can't imagine being marooned at the top of that wheel during an electrical storm...

Once the rain subsided we nipped into Namba for cups of tea and so I could christen my new camera with the neon. And that's pretty much it! We're chilling at the hostel now with lots of beer and saki. Got an early start tomorrow to get the Shinkansen to Tokyo where we're meeting Sheryn. She's driving us to Chiba for our date with Patrick (Jim's mate) and the karaoke booth - come on! And now I have my camera back there will definitely be video evidence. Don and I are duetting on Roxette's 'It must have been love'- it'll be a treat!

So may not be updating this for a few days as we're going to be staying in a ryokan (traditional Japanese lodging) and I can't imagine it has internet access.

Take care lovelies, speak to you soon x x x