Day 1: (28th May 2008)

Hello, Here's the report ::: After we landed in Kansai Airport, we were greeted by the tour leader, after that, we were taken by bus to the famous Universal Studios Osaka, Japan, for those who want to go there. As Kansai Airport is on an artificial island, we had to cross a bridge to get over to the city of Osaka. The weather, was of course cooler than Singapore. Osaka is the second largest city, after Tokyo, Japan's capital. It took quite a while before we reached Universal studios. The bus dropped off those who want to go and took the remaining few to the famous Osaka Castle. The bus was parked nearby and we had to walk for about 15 minutes before we got to the castle. Then, we had a Japanese set lunch at one of the restaurants nearby. After that, we went to look around the castle. There was a time capsule and a ginkgo tree that was more than 400 years old. Next, the bus took us to Chinatown in Kobe. I bought a green tea flavored ice-cream, which is very popular in Japan. Then, we went to Harbourland, a town close to the bay. We ended our day at Shinsaibashi and Dotombori, the major shopping belt in downtown Osaka. We had our own dinner at a restaurant that specialises in crab. That was the best crab that I had ever tasted !!! It is also quite reasonable, about ¥4500, for a combo set for 2. We stayed for a night at Rihga Nakanoshima Inn. The hotel room was quite good .