Some of us on board woke up very early to watch the ship come into Osaka harbor. I was one of them and got a few shots of looming islands in the darkness. When we made our formal entry to the harbor, we were greeted by the local fire boat crew who made a sweeping crane pattern with their water cannons. Our ship tied at the Port of Osaka cruise terminal and we eventually disembarked for adventures around the city. I stayed behind for a while to give a shipboard tour to a few local students who were there to welcome us. (with proper approval from Japan)
The ship was scheduled to transit across the harbor to tie up next to the Tempozan Ferris wheel later in the day so I jumped on the Metro and did some popping around the city, armed only with the knowledge that I needed to wind up at the Osakako metro station. Osaka is a very large and metropolitan City, especially compared to the other ports we had already stopped at along this voyage. It was a little bit overwhelming, especially since the language barrier was very present. Enough signs are written in English though, so it was not impossible to get around, particularly since I didn’t have a destination in mind for most of my exploration. The transit system was amazing, and I can still hear the automated system calling out various stops on the way back to the cruise ship train station.
I ended up bumping into a few other SASers and we had dinner at a place called Pizza Ball House located somewhere near or in the labyrinth that is the Umeda station mall. This is an underground shoppingmall that links several nearby stations into one underground complex. We explored the adjacent Toganocho neighborhood with bustling shopping streets and packed bars. Eventually as night set in we made our way to the Osakako station, and sure enough the promised Ferris wheel landmark served as a bright green beacon leading us back aboard the Universe Explorer.
The next port of call for Semester at Sea is
Hiroshima, Japan