Balloon Shapes By Cops » Osaka Castle

Muse Live in Osaka 9th Jan 2010

Silentjim — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:12:39 +0000

Just last Saturday we went to see Muse live at Osaka Castle Hall (that’s not actually the hall in the castle, which would have been v. cool, but the concert hall about half a mile away in the surrounding park).

I remember buying the first Muse album when it came out years ago and liking it a lot, but then kinda lost interest in them. So the week before the gig we bought that album again and their new one The Resistance. Figured I should catch up.

To be honest, didn’t get the new album at first, it seemed to much of an homage/pastiche of T-Rex, Marilyn Manson, Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Queen.

However that all changed during the gig!

Muse Live in Osaka 2010

However they nearly blew it.
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Post tags: Gig, Live Music in Japan, Muse, Osaka Castle, The Resistance

Osaka River Cruise Photos

Silentjim — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 04:14:49 +0000

English Tea Building

Thin Building

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Post tags: Homeless, Osaka Castle, River Cruise

Osaka and the Manchester of the Orient

Silentjim — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 03:53:42 +0000

Osaka Castle

Just the other week, my girlfriend and I decided to be proper tourists and we went off to Osaka castle, and did a boat ride up the river.

Great fun! I really like Osaka castle, it’s the 2nd time I’ve visited there (admittedly the first was just for half an hour as we got there a bit late), but there are some great views of Osaka, and it also looks pretty cool.

Although it was only built in 1935! The original has been destroyed many times, and the latest is a reproduction of what it looked like when Hideyoshi Toyotomi first built it.

Osaka Castle

Unfortunately the inside just looks like any museum, but they have some interesting exhibitions on (when we went there was a collection of new Japanese swords), and some cool videos telling the story of the castle (well, they’re models, with videos displayed on them, to give kind of a 3D effect, like a hologram but not.

Difficult to explain, I’ll try and find a video clip, and stick it up.
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Post tags: Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Japanese Castles, Osaka Castle

Cherry Blossom Season in Japan

Silentjim — Tue, 02 May 2006 04:00:55 +0000

A few weeks ago it was cherry blossom season here, this is quite an event in Japan. The blossom (or “sakura“) lasts about 10days to 2 weeks, and during this time thousands of Japanese partake in “hanami” or cherry blossom viewing. This involves sitting under a tree and having a picnic and drinking lots of sake and beer it seems.

We went to Osaka castle on one day to see the sakura, but it was pretty cold so we didn`t stay long.
Did see some poor office workers sitting on their own though.
The junior people have to get there early and just sit around, saving the space till the more senior members turn up.

Office Junior

Hanami

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Post tags: Arashiyama, Cherry Blossom, Hanami, Kyoto, Osaka Castle, Sakura