Today was the day I was to meet the group I would be spending the next 12 days with, but first I wanted to visit the local aquarium. Osaka is home to one of the best aquariums in Japan (and that's saying something). Despite the Aquarium being on the outskirts of town, it seemed that the entire city had decided to visit that day. The top floor consisted of an indoor forest with trained otters and crabs climbing waterfalls. Entering the lower floors one sight expla...

I'd planned my first full day in Osaka weeks before, after breakfast (miniature sausages, burgers, croissants, and scrambled eggs, eaten with chopsticks of course) tried to walk to Osaka castle as the subway looked horrifyingly complicated. ¾ of an hour in jungle humidity and 35OC heat, with my shirt in danger of dissolving forced me underground. With the help of an old lady I was on my way on one of Osaka's 7 subway lines. After a couple of changes and asking...

After 17 hours flight, with some dramatic turbulence over Germany (not quite Castaway level, but close) and two 20min bus journeys to and from the planes in Doha, I finally arrived in Japan. Passing through the 'Foreigners' section of passport control and the most polite customs officer I've ever met, I was looking forward to the 'Airport Limousine' service offered to the city for only 1000yen (150yen = 1GBP). Unfortunately this was the Japanese interpretation of...