Cheering on the Orix Buffalos at the Kyocera Dome and rooftop drinks in Osaka

Osaka Castle (photo by Travellingfool.com)

Today was another quiet day in Osaka. We started off late. Since our night of karaoke, cheeseburgers, and late night conversations over beers and onigiri from 7-11 we were in no condition to go anywhere for the morning.

Personally I awoke at 9 and did my laundry. The washer worked surprisingly well so I didn't have to worry about using the dryer. I blogged and laundried until it was time to head off to the Osaka castle.

Osaka Castle is legit. It can't even compare to the Shiroishi castle. It makes the latter look like a child's play thing. Inside it was a regular modern museum with exhibits about the farmers son turned warlord who manages to unite Japan. The highlight was being on the rooftop catwalk. There was also a full scale replica of the golden tea room. Everything on the room was covered in or made of gold. Now that's ballin.

After the castle we headed back to the hostel to drop off our things an get ready for the baseball game. We went to see the Orix Buffalos take on the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Cheering on the Buffaloes from the cheap seats at Kyocera Dome (photo by Travellingfool.com)

 It was definitely a unique experience going to a Japanese game. We stopped at the convenience store near the stadium to get beer an snacks to brig in with us. At the gate they take your beverages an pour them into big paper cups for you to bring in. It was pretty cool.

Can't get enough takoyaki (photo by Travellingfool.com)

 

 Now my cousin will tell you I judge a good baseball outing by the food stuffs available in the stadium, and this one did not disappoint. They seemed to have nearly everything from bentos to beef bowls to McDonald's to takoyaki and okonomeyaki. I got the takoyaki and it was pretty good. If I knew where to find the udon I probably would've gotten that.

The game itself was a good match. Most of the time I found it difficult to pay attention to the actual game because the cheer sections were so much more entertaining. The visitor team, Chiba Lotte, had a much better cheer section then the home team. They had drums and horns and flags as well as a lot more people there which I found a bit strange. Still they both put on a good show and before long we found ourselves clapping an cheering along with them. The Buffaloes won despite the cheerleaders though.

We headed to the gift shop after the game. The other different part about going to a game here is that like a soccer game the stadium is divided into the home team fans and the visitors complete with different merchandise stands. I was surprised to see that they allow another team to sell their shirts on the stadium but then when we entered the shop I noticed that all of the teams in Japan were selling their goods in the Buffalo's stadium store. Some of them had much better merchandise ten the Buffalos but it's hard to justify buying a Hanshin Tigers hat when you didn't see a Tigers game. Lots of money later, Jordan an I walked out with some good swag.

Back at the hostel we decided to hang out on the roof before going to bed. I didn't realize when I booked this place that it was five stories high. With no elevator that's quite a climb, especially if you have luggage. Huffing and puffing my way up there I was extremely great full that we were able to get rooms on the second floor. If I had to do that climb after Fushimari inari day I would have cried and then slept at the kitchen table in the lobby.

The journey to the roof was well worth the effort and burning quads. The view was gorgeous and I found myself sitting around a big table enjoying playing silly games with some good friends.