Christmas Day

What a Merry Christmas we had in Osaka!

We spent the morning in our apartment drinking prosecco and eating donuts (we naughtily bought a Christmas dozen from Krispy Kreme the day before - an incredible addition to Christmas). And we had so much fun opening our presents - thanks to everyone who sent us lovely things :). Once again Jonny surprised me with a beautiful, thoughtful gift.

Then, we took the train to Umeda and had a fantastic lunch at the Hilton, Osaka. Christmas is not a big thing in Japan at all. People work, everything is the same (hence why we could take the train!), but the Hilton was offering a traditional western Christmas lunch BUFFET! The food was really incredible: turkey, beef, potatoes and, of course, sushi. Big cuts of meat are really hard to find here so being able to eat loads of turkey was a great luxury. 

We saw a Japanese guy eating his roast with chopsticks - so Jonny decided to do it too.

A Christmas toast to our different, but wonderful, day. We were thinking of you all back home and hope we weren't missed too much. I'm sure we weren't! There was probably more wine for you all to drink without us!

Relaxing on the 36th floor... Not only was it a food buffet but also a WINE BUFFET. So we could eat all we wanted, and drink all we wanted too! And it was all pretty cheap - about £35 each or something. It was a phenomenal day with a great view of 'the ugly city' that is Osaka! I think the vast metropolis is beautiful in its own way though. Looks a whole lot better when you add bubbles too...

When lunch was over we dragged our full bodies and slightly tipsy minds to the station and took a train to our airport hotel. Boxing day was the start of our holiday and we would fly off to Okinawa! But more about that later... Because our flight was so early we had to stay at an airport hotel over night. We chose the Stargate Kansai and it was a beautiful hotel I'd highly recommend.

The view of the bay from our hotel room in the day, and at night. Don't all the lights make you feel tiny?

The best thing about the hotel location is that it is right by Rinku Town outlet centre: the premium outlet shopping area in Kansai! We had a little stroll down there in the dark and I may have bought myself some more Christmas presents... Woopsies!

The green ferris wheel at Rinku Town and the imposing Stargate Hotel!

A wonderfully Merry Christmas indeed. I can't wait for next Christmas in Japan.