Osaka

There was lots of fun to be had in Osaka. I ended up buying two pairs of Capri pants, I know, I'm not much of a Capri guy but they are kind of comfortable. I got them at my favorite store - UNIQLO, which we found in Korea - very exciting. After our quick shopping outing, we met Hiroko's dad, who took a few hours to "meet with a client!" So, we went and saw Osaka Castle and and Shitennoji. We walked around the inside of the castle which was a museum and we were also able to have a nice view from a lookout area on the top. At Shitennoji Temple we were able to go up the five storied pagoda - a first for me. Then, we met up with an old buddy from Pullman -Taka, but not before we rode a giant Ferris Wheel in Hep 5! It was only for an hour but it was great to see him. We also spent one night earlier in the week at a Japanese Bar with another friend from W.S.U. - Miho!

These are the outstanding Osaka pictures:

(Osaka Castle close up)

(Katrina and I in front of Osaka Castle)

(View from the top of Osaka Castle in one direction)

(Shitennoji Pagoda in the background)

(5 Story Pagoda which we were able to walk up - Score! Yes, I just said score...)

(Cool building on the grounds)

(Katrina and I doing some more cleansing. This time we threw some water on the thirsty deities so they would help us out somehow.)

(Guardian #1)

(Guardians #2,3, and 4)

(Famous Turtle Pond on the grounds)

(I do not know what this is or what it is used for but I liked the dragon.)

(View from out of the Ferris Wheel at Hep 5. In the distance, we could see Osaka Castle. And, from Osaka Castle, we could see the Ferris Wheel.)

(Katrina with Osaka Station in the background)

(Me with Ferris Wheel and Osaka in the background)

(JC and Taka)

(Miho, Hiroko, Katrina, and I at the Izakaya - food was delicious)

(This is a rice dish we got that we cooked in sea water - AMAZING!)

(Miho and Hiroko in front of some raw fish and octopus. We even had a wasabi root to make our own fresh wasabi.

Nara

Day two consisted of touring around Nara and Nara Park with Hiroko's mom. Since she had the day off of work, she asked about 3 or 4 times if she could tag along. Of course, we said yes. We had a great time and got to see a lot of temples, the world's largest wooden structure, some deer, and a turtle pond. Once again, I have good luck for life as I climbed through a little hole inside of a pillar located in Todaiji Temple. We also had a delicious lunch with Hiroko's mom and got to see some of Nara's traditional streets and houses.

Here are my favorite photos of Nara:

(Todaiji Temple - the largest wooden structure in the world, at least according to the brochure. If you look in the distance, you can see tiny dots. Those are people entering the temple.)

(Outside entrance/wall to get into the main temple area.)

(Guardian, I believe, to protect the Buddha.)

(Another Guardian inside the temple)

(Me barely squeezing through the "Good Luck For the Rest of Your Life" Hole.)

(First spotting of deer in a park area as we were walking to Todaiji Temple)

(As you can see, the deer are everywhere)

(Katrina and her deer friend)

(Another cleansing area)

(View of Nara and the top of Todaiji Temple over Katrina's right shoulder from a different temple which I do not know the name of...)

(Five Storied Pagoda)

(Katrina and I in front of the Five Storied Pagoda)

(Turtles relaxing in the turtle pond)

(Action photo of the ladies)

(Nara's famous monkeys - the red and white things hanging from the entrance)

(Up close shot - I'm not sure why they call it a monkey...)

Kyoto

Our first full day in Japan we went to Kyoto with the whole Aochi family. Dad was planning a day off work to relax and mom had a four day weekend as well. So, I don't think our timing could have been much better. In Kyoto we ended up going to three or four different areas. First, we went to Tennoji Temple and while we were there, we visited Jishu Shrine (a love temple/shrine), and we grabbed some lunch at Robinson's, a place Hiroko's friend Nabe found. After lunch we headed to Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Temple) and we finished our day in the Gion District - home to the famous Geisha women. Unfortunately, we didn't see any Geisha women. So, here are my favorite pictures from Kyoto.

Here is my highlight reel from Kyoto:

(Entrance to Tennoji Temple)

(Pagoda inside of Tennoji)

(View of Kyoto and temple from a lookout point)

(Me trying to pick out a good fortune. Unfortunately, I did not do so well... I got the second worst one. Sad.)

(Stone Structure at the top of Tennoji Temple)

(View from above of the next picture. The water is supposed to make you beautiful so I took an extra sip.)

(Katrina and I getting our beauty water - it was a reach, especially for Katrina.)

(View of one of the many love temples in the love temple area.)

(A little love man, supposed to help your love life in some way. He has his own little shrine.)

(A Love Rock. They had another rock just like this one about 20 feet away and you had to close your eyes and find your way to the other rock. If you did, you are supposed to have a happy love life.)

(Golden Temple - Kinkaku-ji)

(Hiroko, Me, Katrina, and Hiroko's sweet best friend Nabe)

(OKa-san - Hiroko's Mom, Katrina, myself, and Oto-san - Hiroko's Dad standing in front of the temple from a different perspective. If you look between myself and Katrina, you should be able to see the top of the temple.)

(Similar to a pond in the States, people throw money for good luck.)

(Getting in touch with our spiritual side)

(When you get a bad fortune, this is what you do - you tie it up and forget about it. So, I tied mine up.)

(Here it is - Goodbye Bad Fortune)

(A fun shot by Hiroko, don't know what the sign says)

(Another sweet shot by Hiroko)

(Me and Oto-san)

(Last place we went to, don't remember the name)

(Hand Cleaner before you enter the temple or shrine area. I shouldn't say so much hand as body purifier - a Japanese custom.)

(For about a $100 you could get a lamp to hang on this building, at least according to Hiroko - fund raising, happens everywhere.)

(A cool photo Katrina took)

And, that was a picture show of Kyoto.

Japan - The BIG Surprise

You might want to mute the volume before watching the videos...

There and back again, a tale by Justin Cassel. This was my second trip to Japan; however, this time it was only for a quick, 5 day visit. We left Incheon Airport around 1 pm and arrived at the Kansai International Airport at about 3 pm. It took us nearly as long to get through customs as it did to fly to Japan. After we got through customs, we purchased our train tickets and caught the next train to Namba. In Namba, we met up with Hiroko!

It was great to see Hiroko and she looked a bit more mature this time. She called her dad to see where he was at (her father didn’t now Katrina and I were coming) and Hiroko told him to meet her at a certain place. He thought she had a co-worker with her… I popped out from behind a pillar and here was his reaction:

Next was Hiroko’s mom. When we got back to her house, her Mom was out walking Leo, their dog – named after Leonardo DeCaprio, I am guessing Hiroko had a thing for him when she was younger. He’s not the greatest actor, at least in my opinion. So, no Mom. I ended up hiding in a room adjacent to their kitchen, her dad said something and then clapped, and I hopped out. Here is her reaction:

We ended up doing Chinese for dinner and then coming back and having a few drinks, beer for myself, Katrina, and Hiroko’s mother, vegetable juice for Hiroko and her dad. Thus concluded the first night in Japan.

Back in S.K.

I just wanted to let everyone know we made it back safe and sound. At some point this week I will try uploading a lot of photos or a slideshow of our trip. We had a great time, in large part to the Aochi family, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart. Stay tuned for an update within the week...