Suita

Suita (吹田) is a city in Osaka (prefecture).

• The Expo Park (万博公園 Banpaku Kōen) (or so-called Osaka Expo Park) in north Osaka, Suita. www.expo70.or.jp This huge memorial of "the Japan World Exhibition of 1970," has a lot of interesting visiting spots like the Japanese Garden, the Museum of Ethnology and Expoland in it. The park is popular among Japanese people viewing cherry blossoms in spring and momiji (the color changing of maple leaves) in autumn. The landmark for this park is the Tower of Sun by famous Japanese sculptor Okamoto Taro. From here you can take a taxi to Tadao Ando's world famous Church of Light (Ibaraki Kasugaoka Kyokai Church),Ibaraki (Osaka).

• National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku, 民博) (take the Osaka Monorail to Banpaku Kinen Koen) www.minpaku.ac.jp. Open Th-Tu (closed W) 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. This superb, modern museum displays 12,000 artifacts (with 250,000 in its collection) on 9,000 square meters that stretch over 5 km in the Expo Park. Admission ¥420.

• Esaka Central Hotel, 1-22-30 Esaka Suita-shi (2 min from Esaka station, Midosuji-line subway). Single ¥4500.