Wednesday September 9:
We headed out early to do a little birding on the castle grounds before another full day of rain set in. It really is a wonderful oasis in the midst of the city. It has also been a joy, throughout Japan, to walk on streets that are so clean. The Japanese culture is “pack in, pack out”: there are no public trash cans and you are expected to take your trash home with you, even cigarette butts.
Given the weather forecast, we decided to go to the zoo. The Osaka Tennoji zoo has some great exhibits, several of them quite new and with excellent enrichment activities for the animals and interesting viewing spots for the visitors. We watched a Malaysian elephant go for a full immersion bath in her watering hole and hippos from both above and below the water surface.
The new polar bear exhibit was designed to “take you to Churchill Manitoba on the edge of Hudson Bay”. As we have been there that amused us… and so did watching a polar bear leap out of the water to grab a suspended container of frozen fish (the onlookers applauded and he was so happy!). There were several great bird enclosures, a nocturnal animal building, and the sleeping lions, jaguars and Siberian tiger were beautiful. The viewing areas allowed you to get close enough to really appreciate how big these cats are. We ate at a little cafe near the zoo, and were able to dawdle there waiting out a thunderstorm. We were grateful that the heavy weather didn’t come while we were still walking around!
The skies cleared late in the afternoon. Kevin went for a walk by the castle as the sun set and the castle lights came on. It was a lovely night for a walk, so we went out for sushi at a hole-in-the-wall place in the local train station. Delicious and a small adventure.
Pictured: polar bear about to leap, a map showing churchill’s location, mandarin and spot-billed ducks (at the zoo), Osaka skyline reflected in the castle moat, Osaka castle in the evening.
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