Captain Line

To get from the Tempozan Village to the Universal Studios involves crossing a decent sized body of water and Captain Line is there to help. The hotel I stayed in, Hotel Seagull, had timetables but one could also just walk to the port to check at the little Captain Line hut. What's more important is the waiting lounge given that the weather tends to be chilly and windy this time of the year. The hut and the place for boarding are marked on the floor once one takes the stairs down from in front of the aquarium towards the water.

The ships themselves are pretty decent, offering both covered and open areas of seating. I have a pretty bad case of motion sickness so given that I was OK during the 10 minute trip I think says a lot about the quality of the trip. One thing to make sure is to check the schedule ahead of time at the hut - they are the most updated and the timetables elsewhere (for example the hotels) can be outdated. Oh, an interesting tidbit of information - everyone, including the captain of the ship, were ladies.

Tempozan Harbor Village (天保山ハーバービレッジ)

The Tempozan Village, which is where my hotel was (Hotel Seagull - decent but nothing special), is home to one of the biggest aquariums and ferris wheels in Japan. The aquarium attracts lots of visitors from all around Japan as well as quite a few international visitors. The ferris wheel, which at some point was the biggest in the world, stands close to both the aquarium and a series of shops/stores. Apparently, though this escaped me while I was in Osaka, the colors on the ferris wheel change based on the weather forecast similar to the building in Pittsburgh's downtown (I can't remember the building's name right now). It was way too windy (and high :P) for me to try the ferris wheel unfortunately.The village is right by the Osaka Chuo subway line, Osaka-ko (大阪港) stop and it has quite a few restaurants.