Osaka, the last day

Today was the last day of being in Osaka. We checked out, left the big suitcase with the front desk and went out to look at the last day of the big Golden Week sales. Today was a shopping day for omiyage and for souvenirs for friends. I also wanted to check out some electronics.
We got there at 10 am and found out we were still too early. Everything in the area opens at 11 am. So we went into a Mr. Donut and wasted some time with a donut and some water.
We started wandering around at 11 am and many shops were still not open. We looked at Japanese anime stores and random electronic goods. Though there were some decent deals for very old stuff, most electronics were still very expensive.
After we moved onto the big main shopping area of Osaka again. We looked at some stores where we had been two days before but now there were less people. We ended up going into America Town and it was funny to see Japanese people trying to look North American even though we would never wear such clothes. We ate some decent Indian curry for lunch.
Then we slowly made our way back to the hotel. We picked up our suitcase and took the train to Kyoto. The last leg of our trip! Nooooo.... It's going by so fast!
The hotel in Kyoto is really nice, it's called the Costa del Sol, and despite it's name is a Japanese style hotel, similar to a ryokan but more modern.

Osaka

The bus ride was pretty tiring. It was about 6 hours. We got there at 5 am and wandered around until Macdonald's opened. We had a heart stopping breakfast there then went to the hotel. We managed to check into the hotel at 9 am. I went to get the money from the machine but my card wouldn't work So I called my bank and had it fixed. After we took a nap at the hotel. After a nice nap we wandered around and visited the castle and a nearby shrine. It was great. The castle had beautiful gardens, stall vendors and there were some nice exhibits in the museum there too. I was very impressed. We walked back to the hotel and bought some very tasty dried strawberries and pineapples. Then it was time to get some bentos and then sleep!
This morning we went to the second shrine and the gardens next to it, sumiyoshitaisha. It was a very nice shrine, probably the nicest I've seen in Japan yet! Then we went to Namba park, a shopping center with a cool park on top. Also a very nice place and an impressive design like a canyon. After we went and walked around the famous shinsaibashi shopping and a few nearby streets. There are many Golden week sales so we did quite a bit of window shopping but not much buying. We didn't get to go to the electronics street, Donburi, but that will hopefully be for tomorrow evening!

Earthquake!

AT 8:00pm I was out shopping for groceries just 10 minutes away in a big mall. By the time the quake hit Yokosuka, which is South of Tokyo on the coast, it was down to a large 6.4 and everyone where I live reported the house violently shaking for 2-3 minutes. I didn't feel a thing in the mall... Must have been earthquake proof!

(CNN) -- A strong earthquake struck off the south coast of Japan on Sunday night local time, "jolting Tokyo and wide areas of eastern Japan," the country's Kyodo news agency reported.

The 7.1 earthquake hit 200 miles (320 kilometers) south-southwest of Tokyo at 7:55 p.m. (6:55 a.m. ET), the United States Geological Survey reported.

Its epicenter was 188 miles (303 kilometers) deep, the USGS said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported its magnitude as 6.9, Kyodo said.

There were no immediate reports of damage, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami warning.

REFERENCE: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/japan.earthquake/index.html?eref