Osaka

 First stop in Mishima before we got on the Osaka Shinkansen/Bullet train was the bakery at the entrance. The khaki green buns in the middle of the table were very unappealing to say the least. 

Hakone Bakery

Interesting to see rice field's in amongst the many populated areas on the journey. Very lush and green with all the new growth on the hillsides. Lots of light industry and most houses are small two storey or apartment blocks relatively close together. Amazed to see oyster farms....

On arrival at Osaka a trick for young players is there is actually two stations...Shin Osaka and Osaka.  Bit of a shambles when we existed the correct station to find our booked hotel was not 300m ahead then a slight left curve. Major construction completely threw Google Maps and us. Round and round for a bit then the nice security chap showed us on his paper map the new layout. Dumped our bags in our room then back to the train station to get the Osaka Loop train to Osaka Castle. 

Lovely warm day with many folks out and about. Absolutely huge site. 

Really lovely gardens with lots of Camphor and Zelkova trees as well as flowering peach and plum.

Crazy for cherry blossom here. Picnics under the trees and constant photos taken.

Castle originally built 1616 with various rebuilds due to burning down, a problem of wooden structures. The size of the stone foundation incredible. One piece 59sqm surface area. How on earth that was put in place 400 years ago is astounding. We did not que to go in to the castle but did a lap of it and surprised to see WW2 damage in one corner from US bombing day before the Japanese surrendered. Massive stones stayed in place!

One sees some interesting day wear from young Japanese, particularly girls. Look at these shoes. A slave to fashion but mobility difficult.

Unbeknown to us the Japanese are mad for baseball and are actually the World champions having beaten USA ( irony in that) Canada and Korea. Throughout the city are these baseball pitches with the high netting. 

So a good day and lovely sunset out of our hotel room ( really a large closet) window. Found a wee bar with a small plate for supper....no one spoke English and we can not read Japanese but it all works.