Author: travelswithfroggy

Well, that sucked…

Friends and relatives, finally something not awesome happened. No, it wasn’t losing my athlete’s foot cream or my favorite hanky (that’s it so far for the lost things).

My phone had a breakdown and all my pics since april got deleted. Booooooo!

It only ruined my day for a little bit.

Today was a travel day, so only got to walk about for a few hours. I went to this splendid garden, but we’ll have to imagine it. (Edit: i stole some pics off the intetnet)

Heres today’s pictures, what there are…

I have two tickets to Hiroshima bc at first I bought the cheapest option. After a bit I realized that was dumb, so I upgraded and instead of spending 6 hours, it took 1.5. I conquered my cheapness for just a while lol.

This shinto shrine was reaaaaly clean and well-kept

The carp theme is strong here. Lots of carp statues everywhere

A lot of the foundations here on the castle grounds, illustrating the bomb’s effects

Here’s one I stole. Its much plainer than Osaka castle, inside and out

Its either a bird or a humpback whale, I can see both

This garden wasn’t fancy, but nice to see on the way home

Heres a link to the garden from earlier

http://visithiroshima.net/things_to_do/attractions/parks_and_gardens/shukkeien_garden.html
The Shukkeien garden was really nice at sunset. The season here is a little later, so lots of red leaves still.

I obviously stole these off the internet

A highlight of the garden is this old gingko that survived the blast

There’s no metro here, but a system of streetcars. they’re slow but cheap and the old ones are neat

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll try to save my picture data and see the a-bomb stuff

Goodnight !

Last Osaka day…

And I didn’t do a thing until 3. Just napped and read.

Because I’m me, eventually something had to happen. A walk would be enough, so I walked to the river.

The Yodogawa river is home to an island. On the island are some municipal buildings, a park, a museum, and of course office buildings. There’s also a nice riverfront path to walk along.

Nakanoshima park is mostly rose gardens. Not a lot to see this time of year but a few stragglers were blooming.

Froggy liked that one the best.

Osaka City Central Hall is a performance hall. At Christmas time a light show is held outside.

These two buildings are so European looking. I’m surprised that they’re still standing. Must not have been bombed during the war.

The old Bank of Japan building is very imposing. It has a lot of historical significance. If I had all the time in the world I’d like to see a tour happen.

The rest of my day was spent admiring some sculpture along the riverfront.

Sorry Katie, no cats today.

Much nicer today…

Some warm gloves and a sweater sure make a difference. Whew! Also, the sun came out!!

Was going to go to the Japan Folk Museum, but they’re closed for a bit so I just took a walking tour of the area temples.

Went back to the hotel for lunch, did laundry, sent some mail, and was back out for more culture until sundown.

Dinner was chicken and vegetables.

Here’s todays pictures…

The gift shop was still open, so I found some hand-made paper products.

This is the Billikin shrine, just one block from my hotel. This is a good-luck god, I guess, because it’s in a neighborhood of gambling places

Now I wasn’t stalking that guy or anything, but I watched him walk right into the pachinko parlor next door

Imamaya Ebisu shrine. This place was immaculate. I want to hire the janitor.

The plaques you can buy rotate throughout the year. Since the new year is coming, most of the animal ones are of the Chinese zodiac

Very quiet, no monks or employees visible

The lions guarding the temple here weren’t close to the gate at all. Must be a different brand of Buddhism.

So I thought I was done with shrines in the block….

This shrine, directly across the street, is the Hirota shrine

This pretty lady is called Ruby, and she wouldn’t let me pet her 😣

The shrines with a lot of orange often feature foxes as well; a characteristic of shrines that honor Inari

You can sponsor a shrine by buying a lantern post, a banner, plaques, etc

If you’re really loaded, you buy a torii

Onto the next one, called Nanba Yasaka. This is very popular at night bc it’s close to a tourist area

A little overexposed, you can still see the laundry cart full of children. Lol

Most of these tiny shrines, the gods never even get out of bed

No joke, this is the main hall. Awesome!!

On the way for lunch, I was trapped here. It’s a dollar store. sooooooo amazing

My life is now complete, I have these tissues. They cost just one dollar

Katie T. Here’s a cat picture. He hated* me

Lunch and errands done, we found an epic battlefield

Erm, you’ll have to imagine the epic-ness

This next place was fantastic. IsshinJi. Here’s where the epic is. I have never seen gate gods like this

I lit some inscense at this one for all who struggle with addiction. If that’s you, I prayed for you today

Now to show you something truly amazing…

Sorry, potato quality photos were stolen off the internet

Here’s another one…anyway these statutes are made from the remains of 200,000 people. Families will bring the cremated remains of their loved ones. The monks knead the cremains into clay and make a statue!!

That is amazing !!

Man that was crazy. Here’s some flowers to calm us down.

Okay, next is ShomanIn temple. It’s not nearly as interesting as the last place

I don’t think that this is part of the temple, somebody just put it there

I’m gonna go with, a god that protects children?

This one’s pretty old. Not too common. Most have burned up

The next place shall remain nameless, bc i can’t figure it out

Nvr mind, it’s the Oe shrine

Its looking like people pray for their sports team here. Hope it’s working!

Katie T, this cat also not-so-secretly despised me

This time I really really cant figure it out. No clues were given me, and since my Japanese is no bueno…?

These fellow were dressed pretty well, so this shrine must have just had it’s festival. That’s when gods get new clothes

I may be wrong, but it looks like the cemetery piled all the old markers and started again. Would that happen?

The cemetery has supplies for cleaning graves handy. That’s useful!

Okay last nameless cemetery. When I walked in the guy looked dissatisfied with how alive I was

Hmmm…Tibetan prayer wheels. That’s a new one

Last one. Ikukunitama temple. Big and important. I was lucky enough to watch a ceremony. As nobody chased me off, I quietly enjoyed it. Some chanting, flute playing, dancing with bells happened. Neat

The sakura flower emblem is the sect of Buddhism that this temple is? I assume

Lots of shrines here in this large garden. Shinto, Inari, etc

Another view of the garden. I stole this one

Just so you know, I only went to every 4th temple on the route….there’s that many in this neighborhood of Osaka.

Chilly Osaka day…

Baby, it’s cold outside!

Started off with a 30 minute walk in the wrong direction lol

I didn’t try to find this little one. It jumped out at me while I took a wrong turn

Now I’m where I wanted to be, the Shitennoji temple. Just a few of us there it was so early. Very peaceful.

Shitennoji temple- a lot of original buildings here

What is it with you Japan, you and your fences around rocks?

Im still not sure what I was supposed to do with the hammers

A very old hall, I couldn’t wander inside

Yes, I did spin the stone and say a little prayer

I got to go inside, sorry no photos were allowed

Another building I couldn’t get pictures in was a hall decorated with stuccos of scenes from the life of Buddha. Old and wonderfully preserved. Also here, they had this setup where some ladies would calligraphy the names of your ancestors onto these strips of balsa wood. The monk would say a 10 minute prayer, reading the names out loud. Then you get the names back, and go around the shrines leaving the sticks in various places, like instead of burning incense or lighting candles.

There’s a spectacular cemetery just nearby, very active

Im guessing this is the next one to be repaired

I moved on to the castle area. The park is huge.

All these adorably dressed kids were at the temple with their families attending some ceremony or other. I watched for a while but couldn’t figure it out

This gate is very important. Almost 500 years old

Some loud noises distracted me. There was some kind of fair, or something at the performance grounds. Lots of booths, and eating, and the buying of things. After a bit I realized most of the people were seniors. It was neat.