written by the runner of ちょっと訳して.com
Osaka Excursion Ticket -Super Duper!!
（日本語版は前記事）
本日のめっさ役立つ超英語： 「なんかの間違いじゃないですか？」
On a Saturday some time ago, I went for a one-day
excursion in Osaka with two of my friends.
We three are all from the southeast region of Hyogo pref.,
in other words, from a global perspective, we are almost Osakans.
I don't know about the other two, but when I introduce myself
in foreign countries, I say,
"I'm from Osaka, Japan."
without feeling guilty for telling a lie.
We Osakans don't go to Osaka to know Osaka more.
-That has been our basic mindset.
And several decades had passed like this until we noticed
that we don't really know anything about Osaka.
We don't even know where to go how when we are in Minami district.
(I probably should know more about Osaka, aren't I?)
This thought has somehow dwelled in each of our mind for some time.
And one day S-ko, who used to work for one of the top travel companies
in Japan found out that there was something called
Osaka Excursion Ticket,
and proposed her plan to us. Way to go, S-ko!!
This pass is extraordinarily generous.
So extraordinary that one might think it's some kind of mistake.
Let me tell you the outline here:
・One ticket costs \2000.
・Valid for a day.
・The ticket allows its holder unlimited travel within Osaka City for a day
using any bus, railway or subway lines.
・The ticket holder can use any of the designated 28 amusement facilities
absolutely free of charge for a day!!
For example, the riverboat fare during cherry blossom season,
i.e. the most expensive among the 28 facilities, which is \1880
an be used free of charge!!! Meaning in cherry blossom season
if you use subway to get to the pier for a riverboat cruise,
this alone costs;
\200＋\1880円＝\2080
already allowing you a discount of \80.
This isn't some kind of mistake, is it?
At first it was hard to believe, and I confirmed like
"Free of charge.....meaning free of charge?!?!?!?!?!"
more than once.
So, here we went; we met at Umeda at 9:30 in the morning,
which is unprecedentedly early for us to start anything,
with the sole purpose of getting as many "free of charge"
as possible.
This is what we did:
１．Shitennoji Temple ・・・\600
２．Dotonbori River Cruise ・・・\700
３．Kamigata Ukiyo-e Museum・・・\500
４．Cruise around the Port of Osaka at sunset ・・・\1600
５．Temposan's Giant Ferris Wheel Ride ・・・\700
６．Osaka Night View from Cosmo Tower Lookout （252m above ground） ・・・\500
Total: \4600
Transportation: \1170
Grand total: \5770
We did this grand tour genuinly at 2000 yen.
(excl. meal fees)
I almost felt bad for whoever is giving this service, and
felt like asking,
"Are you really really sure that we can be doing this?!"
but I didn't because I feared if, by being asked that question,
they suddenly come to themselves and realize,
"Oh shit, what have we been doing?!"
Pictures of Our Memories:
Turtles at Shitennoji Temple (I didn't take photos of the pagoda and other wonderful stuff?!)
A shot taken under a bridge during Dotonbori River Cruise.
I don't know what happened to this one. Futuristic?!
Ebisubashi Bridge (famous as a dive point for Tiger's fans)
The railing is decorated with hundreds of okonomiyaki turners!
A shot of Gloco's famous sign from right in front of it
-the angle hard to achieve when you're on the ground.
We went to Hozenji Yokocho alley for zenzai sweet, and there
someone was sleeping in a stone lantern.
Port of Osaka Cruise
From the Giant Ferris Wheel
The wheel's structure is a specimen of functional beauty.
I remember this was the world's highest when it was built, but
today it is "the world class."
Because of my wish, we got in one of the only four transparent gondolas.
It was transparent on the side panels, door, seats and floor too.
Being acrophobic, S-ko never tilted her neck downward during the entire 15-min ride.
Sorry about my selfish wish.
But to me it wasn't thrilling enough at all.
The seats and the floor were covered with transparent sheet perhaps for
protection from scratches or to blur the view so as to mitigate the impact on the riders
or whatever reasons of theirs.
And the scratches all over the sheet compromized the see-throughness
due to diffuse reflection.
I wish they would one day make it truly clear.
Riders can see Mt. Temposan, Japan's lowest mountain (ht. 4.5m) right below.
How can a 4.5m mountain not be the world lowest?
The magic of dusk makes everything look beautiful.
Is this really that dry and colorless Osaka?
By the way, Kaiyukan Aquarium↓is not in the free-of-charge facility list.
To the lookout on the 55th floor of the Osaka Pref. Sakishima Office,
we used the super fast elevator from the 1st floor to the 52nd floor,
then the super long escalator that goes straight up to the 55th floor.
The stretch is so long that I couldn't see the landing point well.
Since there's no way the panoramic view from the lookout
can be expressed with a cell phone camera, no photo was taken.
The end.
written by the representative of translatethis.jp