The area around the Osaka Aquarium is called Tempozan, supposedly after the Japan’s smallest mountain. My companion had heard about it on the internet. Curious to see what a “smallest mountain” was, my friend and I searched the area carefully until we found a small park with a mound labeled “Tempozan” in Japanese. It was just a hill. I still can find no explanation for why anyone has ever justified calling this a “mountain” instead of a “hill.” It would have been more impressive if it had been much higher or much smaller. I was expecting something the size of a building or a cute little mound that came about waist high.
After the “mountain” the other girl decided to go home and shelter from the heat. I had to find something else to do. When I had arrived in Osaka the day before with few ideas, I went to the tourist office in Shin Osaka station first. I saw a flyer for unlimited subway and bus riding for either 1 (¥2,000/$17.22) or 2 (¥2,700/$23.25) days. The pass allowed free or discounted passes to many of Osaka’s finest attractions. Obviously, the 2-day pass is a better deal. But there were two major differences between the two passes. The 2-day pass did not cover all of the subway lines and it was only available to tourists, not residents like me. So I got the 1-day pass. Once I discovered that an all day subway ticket cost less than ¥900, I realized I had been ripped off. Especially since I didn’t intend to hit many of the tourist attractions listed. There was a discount coupon for the aquarium, which was nice, but I wasn’t interested in most of the places. There are only so many amazing high places (various Ferris wheels/tourist trap towers) that one can see and still be impressed. Both the Buddhist temple are almost completely reconstructions. There are very few Japanese castles remaining in their original composition. Japanese castles are very flammable. When it was built in 1598, the castle in Osaka had been touted as impregnable. Not too long later, an angry horde stormed and destroyed it. The Osaka castle was rebuilt. Lightning burned a large chunk of it in 1665. More aggressive hordes came by and destroyed it again in 1868. The main tower was rebuilt in 1928 and bombed in 1945. In 1995, the Japanese had decided that Osaka needed another tourist trap and recreated the entire castle. I had already been to one Japanese castle that was fitted with air conditioning, elevators, and cheesy reenactment films. I didn’t need to do that again. (more…)