PTA English Practice for October -- Walking to the Castle Grounds from the Station

(Previous)

Sherry: I don't see the castle.
  This is just another busy street.

Michiko: We're facing the wrong direction.
  The castle is behind us.
[face => 向かう]

Sherry: Behind us?
  Why doesn't the subway exit open towards the castle?
[open towards 〇〇 => 〇〇に向かってひらく、戸口〇〇に向かっている]

Jun: This station is not just for the castle.
  A lot of people go to work near here.
[not just for 〇〇 => 〇〇だけのためではない]

Tom: How far is the castle?

Jun: About two hundred meters.
  We go to that stoplight on the left and turn left, ...



Jun: ... around this corner, and we can see it.
  There it is, right it front of us.

Osaka Castle and Inui Turret from corner near Temmabashi Station

Sherry: Oh? That's the castle?
  It looks so small.

Jun: That's just the turret on the northwest corner.
[turret => 櫓]

Sherry: Oh. Well, if that's just the turret
  on the northwest corner, ...

Michiko: It's called the Inui Turret.
  乾櫓 (Inui Yagura) in Japanese.

Osaka Castle -- Inui Turret from Temmabashi, closeup

Jun: Above the trees
  behind the turret,
  you can see the top
  of the main castle tower.
[I do want to get a picture of that. Maybe later. 
There it is:]

Sherry: Really?
  I can't tell.
  It looks like
  one building to me.

Tom: What does Inui mean?

Michiko: The northwest wind is a dry wind.

Sherry: It means all that?

Jun: It means "dry".
  But it also means "northwest",
  and "wind from the northwest".

Tom: Why so many meanings?

Jun: Just the history of the word
  and words it sounded like.

Tom: What are these buildings we are walking past?

Michiko: The buildings on our left
  are prefectural government buildings,
  tax offices and that kind of stuff.
[prefecture => 都道府県]
[prefectural government building => 府庁舎]

Tom: Oh. Suddenly I feel like I want to be very quiet.

Jun: That's funny.

Sherry: Why?

Jun: People often hold protests here.
  It can get very noisy.
[protest => 抗議活動]

Tom: Really? That must be interesting to see.

Michiko: Not really. Not usually.
  Sometimes the protests get a little scary.
[scary => 怖い感じをさせる]

Sherry: But it's important that people can protest.

Jun: True, ...

Tom: How about on the right?
  It looks like there's an exercise ground
  on the other side of the netting.
  Is that a school?

Michiko: Yes, honey, that's a public high school.
  There's a technical school squeezed in there, too.

Tom: It's very tight quarters.

Sherry: I think I see it now.
  I mean, I don't see it now.

Tom: What?

Sherry: I thought there was a pointed roof on the turret.
  But I don't see the pointed roof any more.

Jun: That was the top of the castle.
  Now it's hidden behind the trees.

Michiko: Well, here we are at the corner.
  We can take the walkover over there on our left,
  or we can wait for the light.
[walkover => 歩道橋の陸橋]

Sherry: Let's take the walkover.
  I don't mind climbing stairs.
  What's that building on the other side of the street, there?

Michiko: On the north of the castle?

Sherry: Yeah.

Jun: That's a private school.
  It's a combined junior high school and high school.

Michiko: There's an elementary school, too,
  on the other side of the junior high school.

Jun: Michiko and I both went there.
  The name is a little confusing.
[confuse => 混乱や矛盾を起こす]

Sherry: What's it called?

Michiko: 「追手門」 (Oh-te-mon).

Tom: Didn't you say that was
  the name of the front gate of the castle?

Jun: That's 「大手門」(Oh-te-mon).
  They're different characters.
  The school is "The gate of the pursuing hand",
  but the "big hand gate" means the front gate.

Tom: Oh-kay.

Sherry: Why is the school named like that?

Michiko: The school has a longer history than it has.

Tom: Honey, you are being very cryptic today.
[(be) cryptic => 不可解な（話をする）]

Osaka Castle west moat, looking south

Michiko: We can talk about that
  later. We came to see
  the castle, today.
  It's a nice view
  of the outer walls
  of the castle from up here
  on the walkover, isn't it?

Sherry: Yes, it is.
  Let's take some pictures.

Tom: Those moats are as big
  as they looked on the map.
  How do we get across? Swim?
[moat: 堀]

Michiko: I'll hold you clothes while you try it.

Tom: I guess I'll pass.
  It doesn't look like it would be very easy
  to go swimming there, anyway.

Jun: Or fishing. I was joking when I said that.

Tom: I thought you were joking, of course.
  Can you take a picture of Michiko and me
  with the turret behind us?

Inui Turret from northwest (Ohtemon-mae) walkover

Jun: Sure. Let's got Sherry in there, too,
  And then we can trade places.

Sherry: If that's your old school, sweetheart, ...

Jun: Don't embarrass me.

Michiko: Relax, Jun. You're among friends.

Jun: But, ...

Sherry: Let's take some pictures with the school
  in the background, too.

[Sorry this is so much English. I need more pictures, but I haven't taken them, yet.]

(to be continued ...)