Monday, 21 January 2008

• Osaka Castle

  Osaka, Japan

  Standing in the distance is Japan's most famous castle, Osaka Castle.  There's a moat surrounding the castle.  If you've been to London, you might have heard about the Tower of London's moat having bad water movement.  So as time progressed, the water surrounding the tower began to stink and become diease ridden so people on the inside died.  That's why the moat in London is usually void of water but the Osaka Castle was built much better.

  

  The castle was built for protecting important people so you're lead around the castle a couple times to maximize the number of solders that can kill you (if we were in the olden days).

  The castle looks magificant from up close.

  

  Even though it was designed to protect someone important with force, they find time to build a beautiful garden outside at the base of the castle:

  

  There were a lot of stray cats:

  

  Being a tourist spot, you've got to have the customary gift shop and food stands:

  

  At this shop they sold traditional octopus balls:

  

  They were soft, hot, and mushy.  There wasn't much flavor to them except a bit of octopus taste.  The soy sauce made it taste sweet and it hardened into a glaze at the top.  We weren't too fond of it so some of us feed it to this cat:

  

  He looked at it at first but ate it after staring for a while.

  I saw that octopus ball being mentioned in Air Canada's January 2008 issue of Enroute as something to try in Japan.  I didn't find it that great.  Curry fish and beef balls from Pacific Mall in Toronto taste a lot better.  But since it's a vacation to a new country, it's worth trying everything once if it won't kill you.

  Eric Tummy Points: 1.5 out of 5

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