Harukas 300: Up in the Sky

One of my friends from back home was traveling in Japan with her boyfriend and since they were in Osaka, we decided that we definitely needed to meet up! Abeno Harukas was on both of our lists so we ended up spending most of the day there :) The observation deck is called Harukas 300 because it is 300 meters high (on the 60th floor) with glass windows surrounding all sides, giving visitors an unobstructed view of Osaka. It is also one of the tallest skyscrapers in Japan. The building includes Abeno Harukas Kintetsu Department Store, an enormous department store with high end brand names for people to choose from. It wasn't the clearest day for us to visit, but we were still able to get some incredible views of the city! ^^

If you go early, there isn't really a line. Go an hour or so after it opens and you'll have to wait for a long time to get into an elevator. 

The 58th floor is an open roof area with a wooden deck and cafe with equally nice views :)

Because every place has a mascot...Abenobea for Harukas 300. 

Probably the best views from a restroom that I've ever seen! I made sure no one else was in there when I took this picture :)

Cafe on the 58th floor.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ^^

Family Time: Osaka

 My family came to visit me during the last two weeks of February, and it was so, SO nice to see them!! My parents flew in a few days ahead of my brother so I took them to Osaka for a day and it was perfect weather-- the crisp, cold air with a bright sunny day :)

My mom's green omiyage bag. She always had one or two market bags to haul her omiyage throughout the day :D They got quite heavy too!

My parents were thrilled to see that some of the ume were blooming just outside of Osaka Castle and we spent a good deal of time taking pictures of the flowers. 

Definitely weren't the only ones doing that. These ladies were busting out the big guns!

A different angle of Osaka Castle

Tempozan Ferris Wheel! :D I love riding in tall ferris wheels because of the view that you can get when you reach the top. 

Sorry for the blur on the left...but this was only a fraction of the view that we were able to get from the top! =]

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Unforgettable: Big Bang Dome Concert

So many of my friends have been to concerts in Japan and I've always wanted to experience a large concert while I was here. Enter Big Bang. They're a very popular group from Korea and have a large fanbase in Japan as well (they release songs in both languages). I listen to a lot of their songs and randomly decided to see if they had any upcoming concerts in Japan this year. Imagine my surprise and shock when I found out that they had a concert in Osaka!! Two of my friends and I bought our tickets for about 9,800 yen and we made it out there on a Saturday :] I've never been to a large concert before in my life, so this one will remain unforgettable to me :) 

If you're part of their official fanclub, you enter in this area 

Big Bang merchandise and I was shocked by how much people bought! Clothes, towels, hats, pens, light sticks, jewelry, keychains, etc. were all available for fans. 

They were a lot of young children here as well-- I saw many elementary students and junior high school students with their siblings or parents. This girl was sporting one of the bags (over 6,000 yen)

Many fans dressed up to the nines for this concert and wore every piece of Big Bang merchandise that they owned. Colored face masks were extremely popular since Big Bang's record label, YG Entertainment, is known to use them in performances and whatnot. 

It was pretty cold, but apparently not cold enough to stop some girls from wearing shorts in the winter weather..

Their glow stick! I caved and bought one because I've secretly wanted to use one in a concert :) When all the fans are waving these during the concert, it literally looks like a sea of lights. This was the only picture I could get inside Osaka Dome because they were rather strict about taking pictures indoors :( 

Three and a half hours later, the concert was over, but it was, to say the least, epic. All of the members have a very strong stage presence and their live singing didn't disappoint :) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Europe in Japan: Christmas Market

Christmas is quickly approaching so I really wanted to share these pictures with you all :) When I went to Osaka to hang out with friend from college, we stumbled upon this cute Christmas market right outside of Umeda Sky Building. I've never been to a Christmas market before and while this is definitely not like the ones in Europe, I still thought it was a fun way to get everyone excited for Christmas :)

Roasting turkeys/chickens for all to see =]

One of the many vendors who were selling Christmas goods :)

Mini train-ride for the kiddies!

If I were in the Hansel and Gretel story, this is the house I would go to :D You could smell the sweet aroma of candied nuts and cookies before you even saw the shop! 

Inside the magical gingerbread house...

So tempted to buy the candles just for their color! 

If you thought the gingerbread house looked nice before, then you'll think it looked absolutely amazing with the Christmas lights on!

I don't drink, but I was impressed with the all the German wine that was being sold!

Adorable and festive decorations and ornaments

Really wanted to go on the merry-go-round, but the only people in line were elementary children...

Thank you so much for reading! I hope this put you in a festive mood! Maybe someday I'll be able to experience a Christmas market in Europe....Have a wonderful week! 

39th Floor Views: Umeda Sky Building

I haven't been very keen on visiting Osaka despite how close it is to Kobe, but finally decided to go and my friend was kind of enough to meet up with me and show me around. The Umeda Sky Building immediately piqued my interest when I read that visitors have a spectacular view of the city when they reach the observatory on the 39th floor. The building is actually two skyscrapers that are connected by the "Floating Garden Observatory" and for a 700 yen fee, you can see the view for yourself :)

You also go up this very loooooong escalator that is surrounded by glass on both sides, giving you a rather nice view of the city as you go up :)

Many of the buildings don't look quite as impressive when you're this high up ^^

Hanging up their wishes

The building is a popular couple's spot, hence the entire fence being filled with locks :]

You can also go up one more floor to the open-air observatory for a 360 degree view

Going back down...

Inside the elevator just before it whizzed down all thirty-nine floors

Thank you so much for reading! :) I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ^^