Umeda Sky Building

This building is one of the most beautiful and modern I've seen so far in Osaka. It is located in northern Osaka, Kita-Ku district, and was designed by Hiroshi Hara, who also created Kyoto station. You can take elevator up to 39 floor and enjoy watching a great view of Osaka for free. It is maybe not as pretty as New York city view but definitely worth seeing. There is also a nice souvenir shop there with postcards and other stuff about the city. One postcard with Geisha or a city view costs 100 yen :)

Catholic church in Osaka

This weekend I biked to Mino city. I also went to my church close to Umeda station by train. It was the first time in Japan and at once they chose me to go with the gift of Holy Communion :) I feel honored. It is still afternoon now, so maybe I'll bike to Ishibashi in some time. During week I don't have time to exercise. Below my catholic church in Sakuranomiya Osaka.

Tanuki

Today I'd like to write a bit about tanuki, very nice small creatures you can find in many places in your neighbourhood if you live in Japan. I don't mean alive tanuki but pottery statues, which people mainly like to put in front of their houses, restaurants or temples. Typical tanuki should have a big round hat as well as belly, large testicles freely hanging down to the ground :), sake in one hand and a purse in the other one. They are believed to be mischievous and jolly and can bring you good luck and prosperity. I don't believe it, but they are cute and look at you with this please smiley face, so I bought a small version as a keepsake:)

Biking in Osaka

I got my bike for free in a recycle center in Osaka (thank you, Moez :). It is convienient to do shopping or go to nearest station by bike. Generally Japanese people love bikes, motorcycles and scooters. So do I. You can buy the cheapest new bike for 9000 yens. It will work fine for about 1 year. Biking in Osaka is lovely, the problem starts when you have to park your bike because of a huge amount of them everywhere. Leaving it at any place is risky because if there is too little space for cars or passers-by, police will take it and then you have to pay a fine before getting it back. In Japan all bikes are registered!! They have their numbers, so police can track you :) You can also find attended bike parks but I don't like to pay if I don't have to. In a nutshell, cyclists in Japan have to be smart :)

First impression

I will start my blog from the beginning. I arrived in Japan by plane in the middle of January. It is winter now here although Polish people would call it spring, especially regarding our winter this year (already 40 days of snow and temperatures down to -30 C). My tiny but nice apartment was already waiting for me, close to my office and the suburban train station named Shibahara. From first day Japanese people struck me with thier kindness and willingness to help but also with fear of speaking English. Later on I realized that many of them can write in English very well but it is dead language here. I need to consider learning this exotic-looking Japanese signs :) I don't have much time, just one year...On picture you can see Osaka from a plane window. Good night...

First visit

Hi! This is my first time here. I've just created it and I'm very excited... I hope it will help to keep my memories about Japan forever. I'm at work now, so see you soon!