Osaka

Today the forecast was for heavy rain so we headed for the National Museum of Art. All you can see above ground is some twisted steelwork as the museum is a huge, deep underground space (extra). As it is built on an island in the middle of the river, it is perhaps not surprising that it suffers from leaks. The permanent exhibition is closed for repairs but there was a special exhibition of the work of a contemporary Japanese artist called Yoichi Umetsu. He was trained in the Fine Arts and does wonderful self-portraits as you can see in a pointillist style. But he just loves making things and has experimented with ceramics and printmaking. It was an almost overwhelming and thought provoking exhibition.

We had the lunch of the day in the museum’s restaurant - some sort of noodles with an omelette. We were asked if we wanted “spicy” or “no spicy” with the waitress pointing at something that looked like an olive. When we looked puzzled she used Google Translate to explain what it was. GT said “acrimonious” so we decided to have “no spicy” ;-)

To complete our day of contemporary Japanese experiences, we went to the enormous shopping and restaurant complex on top of Osaka Station with seemingly the whole population of Osaka. MrHCB succeeded in buying a new strap for his case on the 11th floor of the department store.

We also found JR’s booking office, queued and bought our train tickets back to the airport for Monday, and then found the platform that our train will leave from. This may sound a trivial task to you but I promise you it is a major achievement in Osaka Station!