We were welcomed to the pier this morning by a sort of marching band wearing black suits. One of their songs was "Life Goes On" by the Beetles - interesting choice. Since we all had to go through Customs and Immigration here, the tours were late getting started. Everyone had to put two fingers on a scanner and look into the retinal scanner as well, so it wasn't a very quick process. Our tour stopped first at a Samurai castle which was impressive on the outside, but too modern on the inside. It was rebuilt in the 1930s so the best parts were the grounds and outside walls. Unfortunately, 2 people never made it back to the bus, so after waiting 35 minutes for them, we had to leave. We did see an ambulance take someone away - hope it wasn't them! Next stop was a Shinto shrine which was interesting. Then back to the ship. All in all not the best tour. There was a lot of driving and not through very interesting areas but Osaka is very clean and modern, of course.
There was fast free WiFi at the cruise terminal so everyone took advantage of that, naturally. There is also a huge ferris wheel that takes 15 minutes to go around and has a capacity of around 450, and a shopping center with a small Legoland right here as well. The public toilets have heated seats and all the buttons for washing and drying, but you have to figure it out as it's in Japanese. They provide paper also for those of us who like the old fashioned way. Can't wait for our hotel in Tokyo where I'll have time to learn what all the buttons do.
At departure time they paged 2 passengers to please check in. Maybe our missing pair didn't make it back to the ship.
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