DAY 15 - OSAKA

Started the final day of our trip with a leisurely morning doing a bit of shopping in the Shinsaibashi district, close to our hotel.
After dropping our purchases back at the hotel, we went upto Dotonburi for lunch.

Ichiran supplied us with our raman fix - we had forgotten that we had visited their shop in Shibuya until we got inside and recognised the vending/ticket machines. But we felt that this was nice way to end our trip revisiting the whole expereince.

Incredible test card suit.

Capusule hotel.

Spotted in Shinsaibashi, I'm not sure what this says but it doen't look good to me.

We met up with our friend who now lives in Japan for our final night, he took us to a maid cafe. Which was a pretty surreal experience. I wasn't allowed to take any photos, but I managed to sneek a few. You could order set menus with names like "Big Brother Menu" and then the maids would treat you like you were her big brother. Every 30 mins or so, one of the maids would sing a song (pretty badly) on the karaoke machine. Above: House rules.

We were then taken to Shinsekai, to expereince an Osaka local delicacy, kushi-katsu (deep fried skewers of meat and veggies).

Above: Billikin, the god of happiness and "things as they ought to be." Toss him a coin and give his wooden feet a rub for good luck!
Below: Kushi-katsu

Above: Couples write their names on padlocks and fix them to the hearts as a sign of their love.

Below: Tsūtenkaku, or the 'Tower Reaching for Heaven,' has served as a symbolic marker of Osaka since its construction in 1912 and resides in the colorful Shinsekai area of town, which was modeled after the streets of New York and Paris and once housed the huge Luna Park amusement park. Rebuilt and redesigned after WWII by the same man who'd designed the better known Tokyo Tower.

What better way to finish the last night of our trip than to go for karaoke with friends.

Hometime and final train journey of many this holiday. On what is probably the strangest train I've ever seen. I looked like something out that belonged in an 80s sci-fi film or underwater.