A nice, modern building...


...with a scary escalator (... have a look at the next couple of photos and
then have another look at the previous photo!)








Baseball, baseball. We had read that the most popular sport in Japan is
baseball. Jeff thought, "never, surely it's football?" Despite the 2002
World Cup, we have seen kids playing baseball outnumber those playing
football by about 5 to 1. In fact, come to think of it, most of those playing
football were playing by themselves... (!)


Osaka's castle, the Osaka-jo... built in the 1950's.
Like nearly all old-style buildings in Japan, this is a replica of an earlier
model. Never mind the earthquakes and typhoons, it seems that at one
time or another, every building in Japan is burnt down (and yet, they
are systemmatically rebuilt in wood). See day 19th Oct 05.









At trip to the Osaka aquarium. Apologies, these photos were not taken in
the wild!





Jeff's favourite fish - the whale shark. Although the tank is pretty big -
to build the aquarium, they needed one and a half years of the world's
supply of one foot thick reinforced glass - this poor shark has to spent 24hrs
with creatures small...


... and big on its back! Here with a manta (or devil) ray (wing span, 3m)


María's favourite fish... no comment from Jeff!


And to María herself...


For those of you wondering, these are not real jaws, but a model of what a
large set of Great White teeth could look like.


Hello! Hello Kitty! Somewhat more friendly!


Osaka... on a Sunday night. We have never seen anything like it. Lights,
shops, fashion, shoppers, and more lights...





Plastic food. Everywhere, and we are pretty grateful for it. Apparently,
plastic food presentations were introduced into Japan as a response to the
influx of foreign dishes that the average Japanese had no idea about. For
example, tempura was introduced by the Portuguese. I particularly like
the spaghetti, complete with fork! All phenomenally realistic.