Our first full day in Osaka and we weren`t quite sure what to do, so we thought we would do something touristy and go to Osaka Castle. Actually got to the place without too much hassle and the grounds to the castle were right opposite the station. Had to walk for ages to get to it though, by the time we got there it was snowing! Not alot but enough to say it snowed while we were away!

Osaka Castle is more like a museum that anything else. It used to be a castle but we didn`t really see too much to suggest what it was like. It was amusing to learn the history of the family that lived in the castle as every other sentence described a different one of them dying. Seriously they had some bad luck (including someone who was forced to commit suicide - I`m not even sure that you can do that, surely its murder?) Kate wanted to use the rubber stamp that they had there but there were a million school kids around it so she didn`t get to.

We had lunch outside,(we`ve now decided to make sandwiches to take with us everyday) and we befriended a stray cat. Kate fed it her tuna and then it stuck its tongue out as if asking for more! It had the majority of Kate`s sandwich and some of mine and then Kate bought it milk. We named him Mayo, after the mayonnaise in the sandwich!

We went back to the hostel and explored the area around that, discovered that we are staying near a gay district! We also discovered that they eat turtles here, as they were displayed outside a restaurant. Not good.