Catball Hanami

Osaka kept getting nicer and nicer to us as we got more and more familiar with the city ant the neighborhoods and all, but it finally came time for us to start thinking about going back home.  We could only stay in our hotel for so long before the big guy and his cute wife would have to start earning dollars again, so we wanted to make our last full day in Osaka special.  The longer we had been there, the more we'd seen these trees everywhere with their branches bursting in pink petals.  We were told they were cherry trees, and being the ice cream aficionados that we are, we figured that a day with cherry trees would be the proper cherries on the top of our vacation sundaes. 

In a lot of the parks where these trees were, we saw a lot of Japanese people sitting underneath these trees on tarps and blankets, drinking and eating and laughing and playing music together.  They called it "hanami," flower viewing, and, you know the saying, when in Osaka, do as the happiest most relaxed looking Osakans do.

Sitting on the ground looking at the petaly pastelish explosion all around us, branches swathed in pink swaying with the breeze, was so relaxing it was almost hypnotic.  We would have been completely entranced by the spectacle if we were not captivated instead by the millions of finchy guys that were swarming in the tallest branches of the trees. 

Staring at the finchy guys for what seemed like hours, we got really hungry and decided to head back to the city to hunt.  We had been scouting catball hunting grounds all the while we were there and had decided that a place called Kuromon Ichiba would be the best place to attack. 

We skulked about and lurked here and there and found all kinds of things to eat.  Sushi and tempura and fruits and things on sticks and mochi and all kinds of good stuff was here for the taking, so we got a big bag of good stuff and made our way to Osaka Castle.  The walk there from off of the subway was long and a little confusing at times but really very pleasant.  We even found one place where people hit each other with sticks and made brave sounds!

Finally we found a nice quiet spot underneath some more cherry trees where we decided to deploy our deliciousnesses. 

While we sat and ate, a shy-looking gentleman came up to the big guy and his cute wife to ask if we were for sale!  While we would have loved to stay in Osaka, we would really only want to stay if our travel partners were here with us, and we were glad when the big guy declined the offer to buy us.  We sat and ate our fried and our sush and drank our delicious delicious grapefruity chu-hi (chu-highly recommended) and as the fizziness took its effect, we basked in the setting sun.  The yellowing light filtering through the pink overhead made us wistful.  We started feeling nostalgic for the place even though we were still there, which was odd and a little distressing.

 We wanted to see Osaka Castle in the sunset, so after packing up our nom remnants, we found our way to its base.  We met this little birdy guy on the way there, but we couldn't convince him to come with us. 

We sat quietly and watched the castle take on the yellows and the oranges and the pinks and finally the purples as the day slowly descended into night.  

As it started to get dark, it was time to go.  As we exited the park grounds, we found a native catball balled up and catlike.  This guy was scruffy but he had a few friends to hang out with, kind of like us.  He got to call Osaka Castle home, but we guessed that he would have liked a smaller and more homey home to call home instead. 
  

Osaka was very very kind to us for our whole trip, and we were going to be sad to say goodbye to it.  The good news is, it's still there, so we can go back sometime if they'll allow us.  And all things considered, when it comes to adventuring, this was a very fine adventure, and made us eager to go even farther afield and see even more sights and sites.  Together, preferably!  






Catball escalator omake: