Yes, Machine and I went to Osaka together. It was a very spontaneous decision. We were sitting in the apartment on a Saturday, relaxing, a little bored…and then inspiration struck us. Why not just get on the train and go to Osaka for a change of pace? And so we did. Since inspiration took until 2pm to strike us (Probably from training fatigue, not because we’re lazy, uh uh). By the time we’d gotten there it was already past 4pm. We decided to go to Osaka Castle first, and later to the classic urban markets with flashy lights and swarms of people. When we arrived at the nearest JR station to the Castle, we walked through the park on our way. It’s an impressive park actually. I think of it as kind of a combination of Kyoto’s Nijo Castle and the Imperial Palace park….only bigger yet. They’ve got a baseball diamond there, a river, a forest, some kind of traditional drumming facility, and random people playing brass instruments in the middle of the park (I guess it’s pretty hard to find a place to practice the trumpet in Japan). And the Castle and walls surrounding are quite impressive. Even more impressive was the joint US-Russia delegation that was visiting that day. Have a look at the pictures.
Aikido Mugenjuku Kenshusei 