MY JAPAN TRIP: PART THREE

 MY JAPAN TRIP: PART THREE

Welcome back dear reader to the third and final part of my Japan Blog series. If I remember correctly, I left you all off at Dotonbori in the previous part.

As soon as we reached Dotonbori, I was taken aback by the dazzling neon lights, large advertisements, and the streets filled with shops. Dotonbori is basically a marketplace, that feels more like an open shopping mall. It has a river that flows through it and the market place stationed on both sides.

If the reader has read my previous blogs on Milan, then you can compare it with the famous The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. While the The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was more of a shopping mall filled with extremely expensive and fashionable brands, Dotonbori covered each and every price range. It was also much bigger than the mall in Milan. It was more of an area, rather than a mall.

 

 

The next day, we decided to go to yet another city which was not Osaka. We went to the famous Deer Park in Nara. Nara was also once the capital of Japan in the 8^th century and you can tell that just by looking at all the ancient temples of historical significance. We went to the famous Todai-ji temple in Nara. This temple was certainly the largest temple I had ever seen in Japan so far. It felt more like a castle instead. Inside, there was a giant statue of Buddha, around 15 metres tall, displayed in the great hall. It was truly magnificent and I was left gawking just at the sheer size of it.

 

 

I really thought that this must be the largest Buddha statue ever made (although later, a Google search proved otherwise). After the temple’s visit, we went to the nearby Deer park. And as the name suggests, this park was famous for its deer popultion. It was filled with really friendly deers who meant no harm. The tourists were allowed to interact freely with them. You could play with them, feed them, and even take photos. They were used to the tourists taking photos of them, so some of the deers had even learnt how to bow, just to impress us.

 

 

After spending some time in the Deer park, we decided to head back to Osaka, the final destination of our trip.

 

The rest of our days (around a day and a half) were spent in Osaka. And all we did was just hang around Dotonbori. There was also this really cool building through which a highway had been constructed. So essentially the cars went through the building just to get to the other side.

 

 

In all fairness, I really enjoyed Osaka almost as much as Tokyo. It felt like a lighter version of Tokyo. At least the people were talking to each other in the metro. And another interesting thing I noted were the skyscrapers. I am really fond of skyscrapers and I must admit, Osaka was the only city that I have seen which had the most beautiful skyscrapers of all time. Each and every structure was completely different from the other. It felt so futuristic to see everything!

 

 

And Dotonbori at night gave a complete cyberpunk science fiction vibe which no city has ever given me so far. We took a boat ride in the Dotonbori canal, did some shopping, ate food, had ice creams, took photos and videos, etc.

 

Finally, when it was time to leave Japan, I was leaving with a heavy heart. Japan had given me a lot of fond memories. Europe may have been my first international trip on my own, but Japan was certainly an unforgettable experience too. It blends technology with culture, the people are very different yet very similar. The architecture, the way of life, the society, everything was so magnificent. One would never want to leave after experiencing Japan and its culture.

Thank you for reading. I hope to see you soon, with more interesting travel blogs, and more opportunites to come!