Last but not least...

This trip marks the 3rd time I have been to Osaka. Boy I must love the place heaps. Well, I'm here this time around for some serious business.

Having been here twice already, there are still a few other places that I haven't yet visited yet surprisingly. Firstly, I had to complete my castle visiting experiences. Osaka castle is one of the biggest landmarks down there so I made sure I visited it before I return to Sydney or else it'll be like eating a burger with out the meat.


It was a short train ride from Osaka station down to Osaka-jo Koen station before you can see the magnificence of green and gold.

Osaka Castle!

So apparently there are 2 ways you can take to get to the castle. The short back way (for the weak) and the long round about way (for real men, and women) where you get to see a bit more scenery and let your anticipation build up a little bit more.

Obviously we took the REAL way.

There are loads of gardens and parks which we didn't really have time for so we just pretty much did a hit and run on the ones that were on our way to the castle.

We came across some beautiful flowers just as Spring has begun in Japan. Thought it was sakura (cherry blossoms) at first but it was actually just plum blossoms. Dang it! I still haven't seen a single petal of sakura in my life yet!!

After a 20min (power) walk through the gardens, we've finally made it! It's BIG but I think Nagoya's one is BIGGER and is a lot more badass looking. That said, Osaka's one definitely wins the prize for outer appearance and taking up a buttload of space, OH, did I mention that the mote still have water in it (plus random people trying to fish).

I'm still very intrigued as to how they managed to find all the right shaped rocks and fit them so nicely to make that curved foundation/base for the building.

A well (or what is the remains of it). Everyone goes over and tries to look though of the holes like there is celebrity down there only to find that it is nothing but a hole.

Osaka castle uses some unusual methods of telling it's history. Instead of the usual ancient artifacts/scrolls/sculptures, they have all these pre-recorded re-enactments on screens, models of battles and architectures.

A castle cannot be complete without a great view now can it?

This view beats Nagoya's one by miles for sure. Wooo!

Thank you Osaka castle!

We decided to head to our hostel before setting out again (which didn't really happen until dinner because one of one was too 'tired', I mean come on, you came all the way to Osaka to lie on the sofa?). Well, the game of monopoly we ended up playing wasn't too bad, especially when we weren't really following the rules. Who needs rules anyway?!

So hunger calls and we finally had a reason to head out! Another short train ride (Osaka really isn't that big, which is great) took us to Namba (YEAH!). We didn't really had time for sightseeing, though I managed to take a quick snap of the Glico man at night, it looks a trillion times better I must say.

The place was packed as heck, you were literally constantly trying to dodge people as you're walking. We were heading to a Yakiniku buffet place in Shinsaibashi. Shinsaibashi is a little shopping area where you find loads of clothes stores as well as restaurants and food stalls. Good for people with a lot of time and money, oh and of course, appetite.

so, we finally arrived...

forget the world and EAT!!

We were there for a good 2-3ish hours filling our manly stomachs with unlimited meat and soft drinks. Oh yeah, we tried hormones which is literally just fat wrapped in a kind of rubbery skin. I could understand how people can enjoy it but it was certainly not our cup of tea. We ended up watching them catch on fire which was just as exciting as the new years fireworks.

 We headed back to Osaka station but it was definitely not bed time, come on it's just 11pm. We headed to the game arcades and played for an hour or two. Good times!! There were the staple Taiko no Tatsujin as well as the Initial D/Wangan Midnight runs, but we discovered this awesome multiplayer tank game called Tank!Tank!Tank! where you team up to destroy giant monsters in a city, collecting different weapons as you go along. Ahh, I love Japan.

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I woke up pretty early the next day for the big event!! Absolutely stunning weather!!

It's Feburary 19th!! 

which means...

AKB48 HANDSHAKE EVENT IN OSAKA KYOCERA DOME!!

WOOOOOOOOO FINALLY!!

I was too excited to take any photo of the place (shame on me) but it felt comforting being part of the sea of wotas. The location had a spectacular view, I love how all the events I've been to so far are always near the sea (NMB - Nagoya Harbour, Warota7 - Nagoya Airport). This time, its not very far off from Osaka Harbour. 

This was my first time attending AKB's events and even though I've heard of all the stories about how phenomenal the number of people go to these things, I was completely shocked to the point that my body paralyzed for a whole minute the second I step into the stadium.

My jaws fell all the way down to the bottom of the dome. It was beyond insanity!!

I arrived there at around 10pm, got the tickets that came with the CD and exchanged them for handshake tickets and sat down on the 2nd floor for about 2 hours before anything really happened. On the big screens, they had Nemousu Australia SP playing to keep us entertained. 12 o'clock came, but none of the members have yet. About 10 mintues later, AKB48 finally came in the stadium!! WOOO!!! YEAHHH!! The mini event begins!!

(The following photos come from Togasaki's google+ account)

First up, Aitakatta!! 

The only song in the live where they looked at everyone instead of just at the front camera.

Then followed by Everyday Kachuusha (Ponytail pwns this song)

One of the assistants brought 3 boxes for a little 'situation confession' corner.

I can't remember it properly but, the 1st box had one of the member's names, the 2nd one had a location/situation, and the last box is what the selected member is doing as they try confess their love. There were judges on the first floor of the stadium who gave a score out of 10.

Sae was first up and she had to confess in the middle of a theater performance eating hot oden (like a hotpot). It was quite the lulz seeing her trying to cool off the oden.

 

Next, Yuko pulled her own name out, LOL!

She had to confess at an electronic store while brushing her teeth. Absolutely nailed it, got mainly ten out of ten, and 2 or 3 nines.

Last but not least, the ever so sexy Chiyuu, she had to do a confession in the form of a song on Mt. Fuji.

No competition, killed 90% of the wotas there and got all top scores from the judges.

The loser was Sae!! and the penalty game was to do a imitation of some kind of Hotdog that they sell at Kyocera dome?! I have no idea/didn't really get it. Oh wells.

Performance again!! Flying Get!!

Then, Takamina started talking 

She thanked us for helping out raising funds for the 'dakera no tame ni' project and gave us some astronomical figure in yen which I'll never make in my career.

And finally... 'the' song!!

Kaze wa Fuiteiru!!

That was the end of the mini live! They left the stage to prepare for the handshake event...OJS48 came out (again?!) and did their little speech. They'll be in charge of security at the entrances of each member's gates. Then, Ranran (literally) ran to the stage, followed by Minarun & co. They will be doing the 'radio handshake', which really confused me first. How on earth do you do that? Do people just call in the show and do a 'handshake'?! Turns out, it was just them doing a little live 'radio-like' program during the duration of the event.

Surprises just kept coming, Kenkyuusei's!! They will do a little live during the lunch break!!

My wait involved going outside the dome about 3 times, once to get food, once to get extra tickets exchanged and once because sitting there for 5 hours just doesn't fly. YES I waited for a good 5 hours. It felt like forever!! Watching each block to go down to the stadium queuing for the members. Beside the usual suspects (Acchan and Yuko), Tomochin's line was unbelievably long. Also, the amount of kids there was surprising. At around 4pm, it was finally our turn to head down. It felt so unreal!! Like a dream!! NO!! EVEN BETTER!! IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE!! I get to finally meet the one and only YUKIRIN!! Everyone dashing across the stadium, scrambling around trying to find their favourite member's name-boards to line up. I was lost for a good 5 minutes because her line became so long that it was almost on the other side of the hall. I got closer and closer to the tents and normally I would become very nervous, but having been to 4 handshakes in less than 5 months, I've gotten pretty used to it. Walking pass one of the OJS48's ojii-san where he checks your hands, I gone in to the tent. There, patiently was the ever so cute and lovely Yukirin!!! OMG!! She's perfect!! Her hands are so soft, her voice!! GAH!! OMG IT WAS MINDBLOWING!!

Exiting back out to line up again, I noticed the time on my phone...5pm...and...20 missed calls and messages. We had to leave at the latest, 7pm that night, so I had no choice but to leave with 2 unused tickets. It was quite heartbreaking but it is nothing compared to the happiness I received from finally meeting Yukirin.