Nathaniel in Nagasaki: January 2016

Before I returned to Nagasaki, I went to Osaka for a few days. No huge events, just sightseeing and enjoying the delicious food.

My first stop was Shitennoji temple

There was a large section dedicated to Jizo

Warabi-mochi, sold at the temple

Afterwards I went to Osaka castle, which was remarkable.

This is just one of the guard turrets

Entrance to the castle grounds

More Osaka deliciousness, sold right on the castle grounds

There was an active Shinto shrine on the grounds too

Plenty of people in period costumes

A statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi

The castle's main building, which now houses a museum

Kimmeisui Well

An old cannon

A diorama of the Summer War in Osaka. The blood red banners are Yukimura Sanada's troops

While the black and white banners are the Matsudaira troops

Osaka at sunset from the castle's observation deck

Some cheese toast I had before leaving for Nagasaki

And matcha flavored soft serve.

Comiket was huge and crowded. There were many areas where it was hard to walk from being so swamped. The merchandise booths often sold out quickly, and the cosplay models often had long lines to take pictures. Everyone was very nice, and I bought a LOT of stuff. I'll post a few of the pictures here. The event lasted three days.


Mirai Kuriyama

Blake Belladonna from RWBY

Mario and Waluigi

Garry is sleeping...

The obligatory Deadpool

An excellent Porco Rosso

Here's a blast from the past, Cardcaptor Sakura

One Punch Man!

Sunset near the end of the first day

Ferris wheel all lit up

Touhou group shot

Big Boss from Metal Gear

Holo from Spice and Wolf

Another Garry, with Mary

Genma Saotome

More Touhou

Vocaloids

Kenshin

Gotta admire this girl's strength and dedication. Keep in mind this was outdoors in December

You could actually see her goosebumps, but she kept on smiling

Kylo Ren. Star Wars is big over here too

Another Sakura, with Syaoran

Altair

Also, I bought a hat

After day two I went to a cosplay pub called Little BSD, with a demon girl theme. Lots of cool and clever dishes and drinks, and cute waitresses. I can't recommend it enough if you're in the Akihabara area.

Strawberry cola with jelly eyeballs

Mummy toast

Slime ice cream, comes with a tiny sword

Day three of Comiket was the most packed. In some of the more popular areas you could hardly move. I didn't buy as much that day since I spent too much on day 2, but spent a lot of time in the cosplay area outside.