Category: Vlog

Our trip was to set foot on each prefecture of Kansai. When we came across Shiga, it was hard to make decision because there isn’t anything nearby with easy access. Almost all you need to take different mode of transport and travel time can be long. Since we only have one day, we decided to just go to the public park called Otsu Nagisa Lakeside Park where we will get to see the largest freshwater lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. It covers a large area of the city, so no matter which side of Shiga you’re at, you will definitely get to experience the lake, the only different is the kind of environment you will be in when you take a glimpse and experience the lake.

So… Our plan was to locate the nearest station near the lake, doesn’t matter where, as long that we can be at the lake. After much research, this park is the easiest to reach without needing other mode of transport. The official website did mention that it is just 10 minutes walk from JR Biwako Line Otsu Station but some how it took us longer… Maybe because of the heat and we were trying to navigate the place. However, based on Google map, we had to come to this small station called the Keihan Railway Shimanoseki Station to reach our destination.

It wasn’t that straight forward, we still need to walk quite a fair bit. It was already noon and we decided to grab lunch along the way. Luckily we came Seibu Otsu Store(2 Chome-3-1 Nionohama, Otsu, Shiga 520-0801, Japan) while we were on the way to the park. We need to get out of the heat and find food. The photo is not Seibu Otsu Store, it’s just some buildings opposite the Keihan Railway Shimanoseki Station station.

Otsu Nagisa Lakeside Park is a public park. It was quite windy when we were there. I was thinking of going near the water to touch the water but at the end I did not because I chickened out hahaha…

It’s a big lake indeed. I can’t really find much info on this lake. Well… Let’s just put it as a waterfront or public park where locals will spend their time here enjoying the breeze and the view. Saw people fish here too.

I figured those are the hotels and attractions nearer to the city where many tourists will be hanging around. We didn’t see any foreigners at this park.

It’s just so quiet.

We didn’t spend too long of our time here. We had achieved our objective, Shiga, done! Since the sky was turning grey, we decided to make a move to Kyoto to visit the Nishiki Market before it closes. This will be in my next post or you can check out my day 5 travel vlog here…

One of the Kansai prefecture is Wakayama. It’s quite easy to get there but does require a fair bit of time to reach there. You need to allocate at least 2 hours to be safe if you are using the public transport especially with the train as you need to take consideration of walking time to your station(s), waiting time for the subway and train depending on your starting point in Osaka. However, it is fairly easy as it is the same direction to Kansai International Airport and the train will be clearly marked with the name, Wakayama, once you are at Namba Station. You can take Nankai Line Express.

We departed from out hotel at around 10am and reached there around 12pm. In fact, we were not very sure where we should be going because there were too many places to visit there. My goodness! So many awesome places there from onsen to seaside to orchard to hiking trails and so much more! Check out https://en.visitwakayama.jp and you will be spoiled for choices. So we decided to just settled with Wakayama Castle as it is the nearest to the station and the easiest to go since we could only do half-day trip. Do spend more days here, maybe 3 to 4 days if you want to visit those places further away in Wakayama.

This is the castle we visited.

Wakayama Castle in Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, sits at the mouth of the Kii River. Originally ÅŒta castle, home of the Saiga Ikki, it was captured by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1585, during the Siege of Negoro-ji; many monks from Negoro-ji sought refuge in ÅŒta, which was soon destroyed by flood. (Source: Wikipedia)

Left: We were silly enough to not see the main entrance and went further away from it and came across the back entrance. We didn’t use this entrance because it said that you might invite misfortune.

Right: So we walked further again until the carpark entrance and climbed this staircase with sounds of crickets in the background.

Once we were up at the castle ground, we could see view of the city but these birds on the trees attracted me. I zoomed in to take photos of them. Many of them flying around and rest on top of the trees.

Left: The view of the castle from the viewing spot.

Right: A key attraction in Wakayama Castle is Ohashi Rouka aka Ohashi Roka.

We went in Ohashi Roka and I kicked the plank, ouch! I didn’t realize the planks on the floor were not flat but has small steps and the slop is around 11 degree angle, so it is to prevent slipping. You need to take off your shoes. If you want to see how is the inside looks like, do check out my video at the end of the post.

This is Momijidani Garden, it’s just next to the bridge. I can imagine how beautiful it will be when autumn comes. From green to orange, red, and yellow. WOW!

We didn’t visit the the inside of the castle because we had other plan. If you want to visit the interior of the castle, you will need spend more time here, do come early so that you won’t reach Osaka too late in the evening or unless you want to have a full day here and go back to Osaka late in the evening.

The opening hours of the castle is 9am-5pm.

Here’s my Day 4 video, you will see more views of the castle and hope that you can subscribe to my channel too.

Did you know that Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan is the largest aquarium in the world?

When you are in Osaka, you can visit the aquarium. I went there in my August Osaka trip. Great place to go especially if you are bringing children. Even adults and the elderly will find it interesting too.

During the summer this is the best place to escape the summer heat. You will not miss the ferries wheel when you are going towards the aquarium direction.

Do allocate about one and a half hour to three hours here. I do recommend you to go there on weekdays to avoid the crowd. Even though it will still be crowded on weekdays at least not too bad if compare to public holidays or weekend.

It was quite crowded when we were there even though it’s on a weekday because it happened to be their summer school break.

Anyway, take your time, go through the aquarium slowly. It’s quite fascinating.

You should spend your time checking out the smaller tanks first instead of the middle tank(the biggest tank), this is because you can see the big one on all floors without the need to squeeze with others to see what’s inside.

The big tank is where you can find sharks and big sea creatures. The higher level you go or towards the end of the aquarium, people will be less as most flocked to the big tank once entering the aquarium.

You can get your E-ticket here so that you don’t have to waste time queuing at the ticketing counter. This is what we used and we went straight to the entrance gate. They will scan the QR code on your printed ticket or from your phone.
Klook.com

Opening Hours:
10:00am-8:00pm (Last admission: 7:00pm)
The opening hours is subject to change. Please check the official website for more information about opening hours

Address:
Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Minato Ward, Kaigandori, 1 Chome−1−10

How To Get There:
5 min walk from Chuo Line Osakako Station Exit 1
45 min from Osaka Station (bus route No. 88) or 40 min from Namba Station (bus route No. 60) to Tempozan Stop, adjacent to the Kaiyukan
10 min from Universal City Port by Captain Line fast shuttle ferry

Check out my trip to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, you can see more fishy here: