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Japan
Facts About Osaka Japan
Osaka, the second largest city in Japan
is located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region
of the Japanese main island of Honshu and is the capital of the Osaka
Prefecture with a population of about 20 million people (2007). The Japanese
view Osaka as the gourmet food capital of Japan for its excellent cuisines.
Tourist Attractions in Osaka
Although Osaka is very commercially driven city, this great city is also home
to many tourist
attractions Japan has to offer. We shall take a look at some of these
attractions.
Universal Studio - Universal Studios Japan (at the Tempo-zan
Harbor area Osaka) is the first Universal Studios outside USA. There are
altogether 18 attractions and rides, 20 theme restaurants along with plenty of
stores.
Some of the attractions at this theme park such as Snoopy Studio and
Universal Studios Motion Picture Magic, are Universal Studios Japan's original
and cannot be found elsewhere. Also, there is a Japanese restaurant called
Saido in New York Area of the park.
Osaka Natural History Museum – The Osaka Museum of Natural
History is a must visit for tourist who are interested in the the study of
living beings, ecology, geology, astronomy, bio-chemistry, meteorology etc.
This museum is also a treasure trove of Japanese history and culture.
There are four exhibition halls in the museum with 27 themes on
display. The "Naumann Hall" or the entrance hall is where the visitors can
experience the pre-historic nature. Visitors can gawk at stone structures
thousands of years old or be fascinated by the fossils of Yabe's giant deer
and the final Jomon Period excavations which dates back to about 3000 years
ago.
The second exhibition hall display
whale fossils found under the city of Osaka which means that this city was
once an ocean. On display are also exhibits of the "Great Ice Age" the
"Quaternary Period" and information on inter-glacial age.
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Osaka Aquarium - The world famous Osaka Aquarium is located in the
vicinity of Osaka Wan (Osaka Bay) area. Also known as the Kaiyukan (playing in
the sea pavilion), the aquarium, it is one of the world's largest aquarium
exhibits. There are 15 huge tanks of marine exhibits, each representing a
region of the Pacific Rim on which Japan sits.
The aquarium is centered on a single huge tank holding 5,400 tons of
water and containing 580 species of marine life and 30,000 Pacific Rim marine
creatures. The main tourist attraction in the Aquarium is an 850 kg (about
1800 pounds) Whale shark affectionately called "Yu-chan". Other attractions at
the Osaka Aquarium are the cute sea otters, majestic King penguins, playful
Gentoo penguins, adorable dolphins and handsome sea lions.
Tempo-zan Harbor Village and Suntory Musuem – Both of these
tourist attractions can also be found in the Osaka Bay area. Here, art loving
tourists can find a large number of galleries housing impressionist,
post-impressionist, modern art and photography.
Contemporary art lovers will love the The Suntory Museum as this is
where contemporary art in all its forms are displayed. The museum is also home
to a spectacular IMAX theatre, showing the newest IMAX movies every day of the
week.
To add more icing onto the pudding, just a short distance from the
Suntory Museum, tourists can get a bird's eye view of Osaka by taking a ride
on a 368ft (168m) tall Ferris Wheel. Do bear in mind that this is the fifth
largest ferris wheel in the world and be braced for a dizzying ride.
There are many more tourist attractions in Osaka, but we will leave them
for another article. – Osaka Tourist Attractions was
posted on 26 Dec 2007
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