The Higashi Hongan-ji - Part 0

So, I had a nice little post all formed in my head and I even had determined to write it up before I head to bed and then...I realized I've run out of pictures. Well, as in I haven't uploaded these pictures yet into my computer. However, my camera is...somewhere in my room and...I'm too lazy and tired (oh, and I'm sick! Yes, being sick is a good excuse...) to find it so...here's a lovely random shot of outside of the temple :)


The thing that gets me is that there's a moat. A moat around a tiny little temple...

It just blows my mind.

I guess, growing up with the European version of castles and moats, I've formed the conclusion that moats are for protection. And so for a tiny temple to have one is like...'What? Did people attack temples back then or something?'

*shrugs*

Anyway, more on this temple next time!

Kyoto and Misconceptions

I've always heard Kyoto be described as the "old city" or "old capital" abounding with old temples and an older, more traditional way of life.

So imagine my surprise when I walked out of the Kyoto station and the first thing I see is this huge tower jutting up into the sky from an equally modern-looking building.

Hmm...either the Japanese were much more advanced back then than I had expected or they have a much different understanding as to what "traditional and old" meant. j/k

Actually, I really shouldn't have been that much surprised after coming out of the very modern looking Kyoto station. It's a really cool place though, as you can see from the this pic. Very airy and spacy and you can up to the top and walk on a catwalk and look down below you. Very cool ^_^ It has 12+ floors a huge mall on the right side that covers all those floors. Meaning, you can take the escalator from floor 1 and go up to floor 12 and you would never have left the mall. It's insane! And Japanese malls are very...peculiar. They don't have "walls" as someone put it. But that's for another blog topic. We've got to focus on Kyoto!

So, as it turns out, Kyoto is pretty much like everywhere other city in Japan. The old and traditional is right next to the new and modern. Kyoto just happens to have more of the old and traditional than most other cities :) And a whole ton of temples/shrines.

Next time: The Higashi Hongan-ji. The first temple I got to see, not because I aimed to, but because I ran into it as I strived to find my ryokan (japanese hotel) with another useless map.

Goodbye Osaka

Since I have so many pics and don't have time to do Kyoto, here are some random pics from Osaka.



1) Pretty canal next to Yamatoya Ryokan
2) This old shrine in a random park with pigeons reminded me of Rome :)



3) A canal under a highway. Very pretty at night, too.
4) Another shot of that random shrine in the middle of town



5) My new home ^_^ Come on! It was gorgeous! And huge!
6) Crosswalk bridges. Rather popular, I've found



7) No idea why it's there, but I thought it was funny, so I took a pic of it
8) An entrance of a subway. Took me forever to find it; looked like it led to the basement of the main floor store, not to the subway.



9) Bikes anyone? In the depth of the pic, there are also racks and racks of bikes; a "parking lot" of bikes. so to speak.
10) Strangest building I've ever seen. Can you guess what it's for? It's a hotel, I kid you not.



11) Lovely over view of Osaka from atop a high skyscraper.
12) Cool closeup of the bridges and the river


Pretty place, isn't it?

The Yamatoya Ryokan

Isn't it cute?? I have to say, I just love the Japanese style ^_^

So, after the lovely Red Light dristict incident, I finally found my hotel . Ended up asking a policeman who gave me a weird look and then pointed to the tall building across the street as if I should have seen it myself. Well, I had seen it (tall buildings are hard to not notice), but their sign was completely in kanji, so it might as well have been invisible for me to find it.

Anyway, I arrived and gratefully dumped all my luggage in their foyer - literally; they just put this green net over the luggage and I guess you just pray no one thinks of wheeling your stuff away - before bounding off for more adventures. Some hours later, I arrived to "officially" check in. The first thing that I really liked about this ryokan is that they took up my luggage for me! Yes! Twenty points for them!

Then they showed me my room. It was on the ninth floor and it was all for me! ^_^ It was huge! Well, not really, but remember, I had just come from the capsule hotel, so anything bigger than a bed was huge. And not only had I a bed, but I had my own room, table, bathroom, and a huge window to look out over Osaka. ^_^ I was in heaven. This pic here is a shot of my view from my fabulous window.

And cause I took so many pictures, here is another one of those slideshows:



It's funny how the toilet is often separated from the bathroom. Makes me think its been banished every time I see it ^_^

Another fun thing about this ryokan is that when I returned again from an evening of exploring, they had re-arranged everything and had even lain out my bed!

In case you didn't know, Japanese people put away their futons (beds) during the day and then bring them back out during the night. You can call it an interesting way of saving space. Now you no longer need a separate bedroom since it can become the living room every day. :)

But the best part of this ryokan was the fact that breakfast came with it. And it wasn't just a continental breakfast. It was a real breakfast with miso soup, rice, a salad, and even fish (which were laid on a small grill with a candle underneath that was lit to cook the fish while you ate the rest of the meal - cool, huh?)! And they delivered it to my room and set it up on the table just for me. ^_^

Come on, you've got to admit that's just cool. ^_^ They were even nice and included a sheet of instructions on how to eat everything. Or at least that's what I'm assuming it was since it was al in Japanese. But it did have numbers implying that they were describing steps of some kind. And it was all very good to eat, even despite it being eight in the morning. ^_^

Next topic: Kyoto!

Red Light District

Just the funny Red Light District story for today :)

So, here I was, moving from the cool capsule hotel to the Yamatoya Ryokan with another useless map (gah!). Luckily, I was able to glean the idea that the Ryokan would be next to the river. Thus, I decided I'd just head straight up there and start walking down that street until I found the Ryokan.

This was my first mistake.

No, I'm wrong. My first mistake was to end up having to drag two humongous, packed to their brim, suitcases, carry a thoroughly packed backpack and heft around a -also thoroughly packed - computer case, all by my lovely lonesome. Yes, I made quite the sight wherever I went.

Anyway, so there I was, dragging these over-grown suitcases and staggering under the weight of the backpack and computer case, and I decided right there and then that I had no desire, whatsoever, to get lost and end up backtracking. I wanted to find that ryokan straight away and dump my luggage as fast as I could.

Hence the reason of my second mistake: to start following the road next to the river.

This wasn't really a major decision. I've been walking around Osaka for the past couple of days and, if I hit any areas that I felt uncomfortable, I'd quickly leave. Except I now was dragging 300+ pounds around with me. Not quite the easiest to maneuver away. Plus, I had no desire of backtracking. My arms already ached from carrying those lumps of iron all yesterday in my search for the Capsule hotel.

Alas, I proceeded on with my ignorant decision and began to make my way down the long street by the river at a cheerful 8 in the morning. Yet, as I began move deeper into the street, I began to notice the strange looks I was getting. Well, this actually wasn't all new since one: I'm the only white person for miles around and second: I'm the only one dragging around two, too-big suitcases. So, it wasn't the fact that I was getting strange looks. It was the fact that the strange looks consisted of surprise, bemusement, and utter confusion and they were coming from oddly dressed people who didn't look like they're used to seeing the sun.

This is when I stopped focusing on the relief of finally getting rid of my luggage and actually looked around. This is when I realized that I think I had just stumbled upon the illusive "red light district."

I don't know about you all, but in my browsings of anime and manga, I've often heard this term of "The Red Light District." I had the vague idea that it's an area where underage people weren't allowed to go since it involved a lot of...well, adult-orientated entertainment. So for me to end up there - a young, white American girl dragging all her world's belongings behind her - was quite the sight, I'm sure.

At least I had no fear of someone trying to nab me or anything. I'm sure I weighed near 300 pounds with both the backpack and computer case and if they tried to drag me with one of the suitcases, they'd be pulling 500+. Nor was I afraid of being robbed. It would have been one desperate thief to haul off one of my bags, assuming he got farther than ten feet before giving up.
Luckily, the next street over was back to more normal surroundings and I was able to locate someone that helped me find my hotel.

And that is my random - though highly interesting - Red Light District Incident. ^_^

Oh, and the pic up at the top, if you were able to pan the camera to the right, you'd get a glimpse of the street that I was talking about. Hence why I included it in this blog. I just forgot to mention it. ^_^

Finishing up Osaka Castle

Random technical point: Osaka is said with the accent on the 'O' so it goes O-saka, not oSAka. They kept correcting me every time I said it with the accent on the 'a'.

And now the to main show: The Osaka Castle itself!

But a random side diversion first - Octopus anyone? Right by the Kendo tournament, there was a few stands offering food and I found one stand offering octupus! If you can see it in the pic, the octopus is the purple and white stuff on the left. They put the octopus, along with the other ingredients in the pic, into some type of batter and then they cook them on that grill in the background of the pic. And I, being both hungry and adventurous (never had octopus before), promptly bought some.

Mmm...good stuff. Need some type of sauce, I think, since it was rather bland. But the octopus was good ^_^ Tasted kind of like shrimp, but with a more rubbery, squeaky feeling to it. I highly recommend it ;)



Anyway, back to the Osaka Castle. Once you go through the main inner gate, you climb a bit, round several random buildings, and whallah! You get a nice view of the castle amidst pretty trees.

It's actually more like a fancy 'keep' than an actual castle (if you're comparing it to the European style of castles). It's first two levels are boarded up with stone to protect itself from invaders. Then the rest is built in wood, designed and painted to fit the current style. I really liked the soft green painting this castle had and it has a wonderful view of the city Osaka from the top. The surrounding little 'park' with its trees and open lanes was fun to wander around in. And if you go behind the castle, there are some old benches that you can sit on and enjoy the view from that area. Very pretty ^_^

And that's the Osaka Castle!

Up next: The Yamatoya Ryokan and the Red light district ;)

Oh, and here's a random shot of some stairs behind the castle that actually turned out cool looking:

Osaka Castle: Kendo match!

This will have to be brief, so only the Kendo match.

What first alerted me to the match was coming upon these two girls randomly fighting before a building. About this time, I had finally found the main inner gate that leads to the castle itself and before the ramp that crossed the inner moat, there's a widened street with modern buildings on it.

There's also a temple/shrine where I happened upon a wedding. Didn't realize what it was (I just thought it was a parade of people dressed up in costumes) until the bride and groom came out and I suddenly felt like I should be there.

But that's a tangent, so back to the Kendo competition. First off, it was really cool seeing so many people practicing with swords and trying to attack each other ^_^ Also, when I entered the building, the entering area was filled with shoes. You couldn't get past them without at least stepping on someone's shoes. That was rather funny.

Anyway, the building is this huge gymnasium and they were having three fights going on at once. I wasn't quite sure if I could take pics, so I tried to take them convertly, so forgive me if they're rather blurry. Besides, it was much cooler seeing it all in action anyway ;)




First one is of the building and the various people waiting around. 2nd pic of a bunch of them preparing to bow. I think it was because they finished their level/grade? 3rd pic is of a match and the 4th is a closeup of the fighters in their gear ^_^

And that's the cool Kendo competition. One day, I'm going to be in one too. Whee! ^_^

Next post: Finishing up Osaka Castle! And maybe the best ryokan I stayed in!

Osaka Castle!

Osaka Castle!! And it's huge! Land wise. It's been made into a park and it's really pretty. It has an outer moat, an inner moat, and lots of gates. It was built with the idea to have many gates leading in different directions and only a certain series of them led to the actual castle.

Okay, everyone, I'm trying out a new thing. I found an option where I could embed a slideshow of pics instead of pasting one after another on this blog so let's see if it works...



And it does! Whee! So, here is a slideshow of the outer moat of the Osaka castle. I believe if you push that small white text-bubble-looking-like button on the bottom left, it will display the captions that I wrote for each pic. Pretty nifty, eh?

So, yeah, this Castle not only has a moat, but two moats. An outer and an inner moat. Just blew my mind. I grew up in a desert, so to see so much water just sitting there is...amazing.

The inner moat, though, is half-dry, as you can see in this pic. The other side has water, but not this side. Don't have any idea as to why that's so. *shrugs*

Anyway, since there are two moats and so many gates and beautiful gardens (it's more like a garden complex with a castle instead of just a castle, if you ask me), it can get rather confusing to find the correct route. So, they offer this cute, little steam-engine replica of a train (there's a pic of it in the slideshow) to take you from the outerskirts of the castle complex to the main inner gate inside. Of course, it costs money, but it was nice of them to offer it. Plus, you can always just follow the train to discover how to get there in the first place.

However, since I was in a wandering mood as it was, I took the long way (aka: got lost many times) to find the main gate to the castle. And I took plenty of pics ^_^



In my wanderings, I found this white sign that was in English!! I was so happy to finally find something in English that I took a pic of it in celebration ^_^

But the coolest part about wandering around was that I was able to stumble upon a Kendo competition in action!!

And that and the actually Castle will be the topic for the next post! Enjoy the pics and let me know if you like the slideshow concepts.

Shitenno-ji Temple - part 2

Random update on current life: It's raining! And it's a thunderstorm!! Whoohoo!! ^_^ *sings* I love the rain. I love the rain ;)

And I think this rain officially starts the rainy season (it's supposed to start any day now, I've heard) and I think I've found a new heaven. ^_^ Rain is great, but with thunder too? You can't ask for anything better. Whee!

*ahem* So, back in Osaka, it was a nice cloudy/polluted (still not sure which) day and here's a nice shot of the temple in all of its singleness glory.

You get to go in on the door located on the left side of the pic and the first thing you see is this interesting mural of some sort, where, I think, you can burn incense and the like. This is on a wall that encloses the central (well, only) staircase that goes up to the top of the temple. But, before you head up, you have to take off your shoes and exchange them for some slippers at the handy rack provided.

Now, for all who are thinking of visiting Japan, let me give you a head's up. Taking off your shoes is a common occurrence. Actually, I'd say it's an expected occurrence. Practically everywhere you go, you will end up having to take off your shoes and either wear the provided slippers, or walk barefoot/socked-covered feet while carrying your shoes. So, be prepared! And don't wear shoes that are hard to take on and off. Trust me, it will save your sanity. Oh, and most likely (if you have big feet), the provided slippers will never fit your size. But they're doable, regardless :)

Luckily for me, I bought my shoes with the idea that they'd be easy to come off, so I didn't have to worry about untying and retying my shoes all the time. So, after I exchanged the shoes, I went up the stairs, and up, and up, and up, until I reached the top! Whee! Picture time!



The first one is of the center piece in the top room; the second is of the Osaka city skyline that you can see from the tower; and the third of the buildings apart of the mini-complex wall; and the last of the cool entrance door thing in the main gate.

After coming back down, I went into the other main building inside the complex. Unfortunately, they didn't allow pictures to be taken since they've got some awesome painted murals all over their walls. Plus, in the middle, is a big, golden buddha with other statues around. It was really cool. And as I was there, checking things out, I realized there was a line forming on some benches, but I had no idea what for since there didn't seem to be anything to do in that building other than pray, I guess, and buy some souvenirs at the little counter. They certainly weren't in line to see the murals. However, just as I was leaving, four Buddhist priests of varying levels came in and began to do this cool chant with drums.

After they did the chant for a while, they then changed positions and then the line began to go through, being well, I guess the only word to describe it is being blessed. It was rather interesting to watch this type of ritual. I was also invited to participate, I think, but since I had no idea what was going on and wasn't sure if you had to pay, I declined. But it was cool to watch. People paid for little pieces of paper which they wrote names, I think, and then they handed these lists of names to the monks/priests and then, after they blessed everyone, they re-arranged themselves and began to chant/pray for the lists. Very interesting.

And that's my Shitenno-ji Temple experience. Now on to: the Osaka Castle!

And because I love dragons, I thought this was utterly awesome:

Shitenno-ji Temple

Shitenno-ji Temple. The 'ji' part actually means "temple", but I guess for tourists, they added the "Temple" so they'd understand what they're going to see. I just think it's rather ironic.

Anyway, this is one of the places my tour guide said to check out and I have to say, it was rather cool. The few streets leading toward the temple are donned by these cool little gateways that you see on the left. They're rather big and highly impressive ^_^

Once you get pass those, there are several other buildings inside the temple "complex", if I may so call it. Now, the first thing that I noticed was the lack of "oldness". Having lived in Italy for over a year, you get to a point where you can just walk past a building and just feel its "oldness". You just know it's been around for centuries just because of the feel it had. These buildings, though, didn't have that at all, which was rather disappointing. Actually, most of the sites I saw lacked this oldness feeling. This is because fires or warfare has destroyed most of the old buildings. But almost everything has been rebuilt as exact replicas, so the styles and the tradition of the places can still be seen and admired. Shitenno-ji was no different. According to my tourguide book, the actual buildings currently standing date back to 1965. But the styles were still cool to see, despite the lack of "oldness". ^_^ Especially the way nature is arranged around in the temple complex.

For instance, there was this really cute pond in the middle of the complex. It was crossed over with a cool, looking bridge, but just the way it was situated was very relaxing. Nothing forced or overly artificial. Just a calmness, as if the man-made pond was meant to be there. There were also a TON of turtles in the water or lounging on the little raised platforms in the middle of the pond and it was fun to just sit and watch them for a spell.

After escaping the lull of the pond, I then came upon the temple itself, with its own 'mini-complex'. There was a wall around the temple and one other building (don't know what it's officially called. Anyone else know?) and, surprisingly, they demanded a fee before I could enter the mini-complex. Well, I guess it's not that surprising since it is a tourist spot, but since I wasn't prepared for it money-wise, it was a surprise for me. And it was the first tourist spot I went to in Japan (before I soon discovered that practically every temple asks for an entrance fee. Ah well).

Some yen lighter, I entered the mini-complex and the first thing that hit me is the quiet order of everything. There is no greenery inside the complex; just beautifully raked out rocks that you don't dare walk on for fear of ruining the perfection of it all. I tried to capture it in a picture, but it probably doesn't do it justice. Ah well. Your loss. ;)

But the cooler parts of this mini-complex is that you get to go up the five-storied temple and, I got to see a Buddhist chant ritual thing...or however you would call it.

But those will have to be saved for my next post since I'm out of time.

Enjoy!

The Promised Osaka

So, Osaka...it will have to come in installments or I'll never find enough time to post it all. :)

The fun part of Osaka for me was just wondering around and seeing what I'd find. For instance, this lovely shrine in the middle of nowhere. Like this pic shows, you suddenly see these trees down some random street in the middle of the city and you're going, "Huh?"

So, off I go, climb up the stairs, and find this cute shrine. I took more than I needed (but it was so cute!), but here are three pics (see below) that seem to give the general sense of the place. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. On one side is the shrine with a few houses around, one being a restaurant and another one housing a cute tank of water with these little cups. Not quite sure what they were about but the dragon is cool. ^_^ I saw these cups/tank often, so they've got to be some part of ritual... *shrugs*



Then, as you walk away from the shrine, there are steps that descend into this pretty little garden that sprawls below with a tree-lined pathway. Very pretty. Took more pictures. ^_^



And next time: The Shitenno-ji Temple, considered (according to my tour guide book) to be the birthplace of Japanese Buddhism.

For a Limited Time only

My roommate went and created a movie showing off our apartment. You can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3d8W9DvKZI


I don't know how long she'll keep it up, so if the link no longer works, umm...you're too slow ;)

And I love her comment on my room. ^_^

Osaka!

Osaka...where do I even start? I went with my usual habit and took way too many pictures. But I loved it ^_^

There's really not much to see in the strict "tourist" concept, but I wasn't really there to "see" that stuff. I just wanted to experience Japan and so I spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly around the town, not caring where I went. It was a lot of fun ^_^

And I don't have time to finish this today. See its continuation on Monday!

The Capsule Inn Namba Hotel!

And now to one of the cooler hotels in Osaka: the Capsule Inn Namba Hotel! And of course it had to be insanely hard to find. *grumble grumble*

See, the main problem about finding things in Japan is that you can't read ANY of the street signs! They're partly, if not completely, in Kanji, the word/picture system borrowed from China. I may be able to read Katakana and Hirigana (the phonetic alphabets), but Kanji is way out of my area.

So, there I was, newly arrived at the Namba station with all of my luggage, and with a map that I couldn't use since the streets were written in our letters. (Note to anyone wanting to travel in Japan: insist for a map with Landmarks! Like the building with the crab, across from McDonalds, next to Mister Donuts, etc. Forget street names). Oh, and a lovely another sidebit about Japanese maps: for some reason, they avoid having north be 'up' on a map. South? East? West? Yeah, those are good 'ups', but north?? Heaven's no! And they love to keep changing it so you never really know which direction 'up' is pointing. And that was the same with my map.

So, there I was, wandering around the huge station of Namba (it was the big stop for both the trains and the subways, kind of like a smaller version of Rome's Termini - for those who have been to Rome), having no idea which direction I needed to go to even start looking for the Capsule Inn. I finally attempted to use my limited Japanese and ask for help from two girls looking at a map within the Namba station. After a few minutes of them struggling to remember and me thinking I could finally be on my way, they revealed their exquisite knowledge of the English language by saying "I don't know" and "Sorry".

Luckily, another lady overheard the struggling girls and asked me "Do you need help?" Ah, I could have hugged her. Her English wasn't perfect, but it was enough, so I gave her my map and told her where I wanted to go. After a few moments, she told me my map wasn't very good (the irony), but she said she thought she knew what it was asking for. And then she (such a kind lady!) proceeded to lead me out of the station across the street and then pointed to where the inn should be. And off I went again with my (Japanese approved) bad map to find the Inn.

The fates must have been feeling sorry for me, for the Inn had their sign written in Katakana, spelling out Capsule Inn Namba (I wish I had taken a picture of it. *sniff*). Yay! I found it!

The place is small, but tall (as in 6 floors tall). Most capsule inns only cater to men, but this hotel has a floor (the 4th one) dedicated to only females. So yay for me :D

Anyway, first thing you do is you take off your shoes and put them in this shoe locker, taking take out the slippers that are inside. On the first floor is the checking area and a small kitchen and adjacent to that, a small area for eating on stools with a TV. For me, I just went straight to the elevator and went up to my designated floor.

I'm assuming all the floors are the same, but since I only saw the 4th floor, I don't know for sure. Anyway, on my floor, there is the bathroom area, a small locker area, and then the rooms/capsules themselves. There's no area for changing so I assume you either do it in the locker room (which has glass doors, so don't think there's a lot of privacy there) or in the bathroom or in your capsule.

For the bathroom, they had a sink area (see the pictures below) and then the toilets/shower area. As you can see, they provided bathroom slippers here, too. Tis a common occurrence I've found. And surprisingly, this shower had a curtain!! The only one that I've seen since coming here. Ah, but the real surprise was the toilets. They were Japanese style toilets, called 'Squatters'. You basically just squat over them. I've found that these are quite common and that the Western style toilet is a rarity to find. However, the fates must have been through of beating me up, because the next stall over was a Western style toilet. Yay!



And now for what you all are waiting for: the room itself. The first pic at the beginning of this blog is the hallway with all the rooms. My room is the one with the black bag hanging next to it. Here are some more pics of it (forgive the odd arrangement of them. I'm still trying to figure out how to set the pictures up on Blogger):


I had a capsule on the bottom and all I did was take off my slippers and then crawl in. There's actually quite a good amount of space in there. I could sit up easily with room to spare. I could even kneel, though I had to hunch over slightly. As for length, I'd say it's either 6ft long or a little under since I fit in it with a few inches to spare. They also have this lovely little flap of woven wood. Kind of cool looking and it keeps most of the light. You just pull it down and it locks at the bottom and whallah! That's what keeps the rest of the world out. Good privacy, don't you think? ;)

Also, there's a TV (as you can obviously see) though I never used it. The list of channels didn't seem to be on the G-rated side (or even close to it). They had a clock though with an alarm, though, and I tried to use that. However, I soon learn that though you have nice, white plastic walls, and the cool wood cloth thing, they are in no way sound-proof. You get to hear everyone that comes in. :D

Luckily for me, I was so tired that I slept right through (yay for jet lag!) and surprisingly woke up at 6am instead of 2am again.

And there you go! The Capsule Inn Hotel. I only stayed there one night and then moved to my best stay ever: The Yamatoya Ryokan!

First though: Exploring Osaka!

Oh, and if you have any questions about the Capsule Inn, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll see if I can answer them. :)