Hirakata Park in Osaka

Hirakata park (main website here, Facebook page here), or `Hirapah` as it is known by locals, is an amusement park located in Osaka. If you go by train, it is just a 3 minute walk from Hirakata Koen station on the Keihan railway.

It is an old amusement park, home to 43 attractions including roller coasters, a petting zoo, an ice-skating rink in winter and swimming pools in summer.

The price of entrance is 1,300yen for adults and 700yen for kids (2yo and older), but you have to pay for rides on top of that. They are not cheap unfortunately, so if you plan to ride a lot of attractions, you should buy a `free pass` (4,300yen for adults, 3,700yen for kids in elementray school and above, and 2,200yen for kids from 2yo to elementary school) which allows you access to all rides.

If you are going with small kids / toddlers, it would be best to check the restrictions for each ride before going, as most are only for 3-4y and older.

We had fun, and spent about an hour and a half there (enough with a 2yo who couldn`t ride on many attractions), enjoyed walking around and eating ice-cream!

Some pics from our day...

For the money we spent, (including 1,500yen for parking), going to Universal Studios Japan (USJ) wouldn`t be that much more expensive... but it was fun to learn about a new place anyway!! And it was much less crowded than USJ!

Earth Day at Hamadera park

There was an Earth Day festival (and here) held at Hamadera park in Osaka yesterday and I went along with my friend K and her extended family. It was a really nice way to relax and spend time with loved ones on Mother`s day (since Yoshi was working).

We enjoyed playing in the park, eating yummy food and browsing the stalls for handmade goodies. It was almost 28degrees in Osaka yesterday so it felt like summer. Such a fun day!

 jump!

...yes Aiden has a big red bump on his forehead. That is just another bump to add to his recent collection! This one came from an eager jump on the bed and the resulting crash into the wall... oh dear :(

Fun in the Okinawan sun (part 2)

More things we enjoyed during our Okinawan vacation...

Glass bottomed boat

Drive over the bridge to Kauri island of Okinawa

Great food at the cafe `with the best view on the island`

 (yummy tuna, yama-imo and sea-grape donburi)

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Great playground outside the aquarium

 such a brave little monkey!

Another great playground on our last day in Okinawa

Such a great fun holiday!

Fun in the Okinawan sun (part 1)

Wednesday May 1st til Sunday May 5th... 5 days in the lovely sunshine on the island of Okinawa (part of the Ryukyu island chain in southern Japan).

Some of the fun things we did (and ate) are photographed below...

Blue Seal ice-cream

Nago Pineapple park

Local beaches

World heritage site - Sefa Utaki

Amazing beach cafe in the very southern part of Okinawa

 (umi-budou = sea grapes salad)

 (ta-imo = okinawan potato)

More pics to come in the next post.