Osaka, Japan

Shopping Arcade - Osaka, Japan

Osaka-jo Castle - Osaka, Japan

Wayne with Bullet Train - Japan

Pat Being "Eaten Alive" 
by Baby Koa Fish- Osaka, Japan

School Children - Osaka, Japan

Dotomboria at Night - Osaka, Japan

Wonderful Japanese Food 
for Dinner - Osaka, Japan

"Are You Making Any Money" 
- Greeting in Osaka, Japan

Modern Osaka, Japan

Osaka, Japan (10/22-23/2009) - Osaka is Japan's bustling modern city and a very interesting city to visit.

Bombed almost flat in WWII, Osaka is now a very modern Japanese industrial (hi-tech) and port city with a population of 17 million in its greater metropolitan area. Osaka also has significant history. Serious about business (second only to Tokyo), they even have their own special greeting: “Are you making any money?”

Shopping is huge in Osaka with literally miles of shopping arcades (see photo) - especially women’s fashions. The women in Osaka dress with style.

With our very nice Goodwill Guide, Keiko Kurohawa, we visited the Osaka Aquarium that has the world’s largest aquarium tank home for two huge whale sharks! Osaka Aquarium also has well done simulated marine environments from around the world.

A visit to the Umeda Sky Building, known as the Floating Gardens, gave us an impressive view of Osaka from a tall space-like complex. Wandering through Osaka’s glittery neon entertainment area (Dotombori - see photo) gave us a fun understanding of modern Japanese life at play. 

And, of course, a visit to Osaka is not complete without soaking in the many themed baths at Spa World. Spa World is possibly the largest bathhouse in the world with many floors of European and Asian style spas. Pat was eaten alive by fish (see photo) - she had a baby Koa foot treatment removing dead skin and makes your feet smooth.

We took the bullet train (see photo) to Osaka - pretty nice ride.

Some history... Osaka’s history revolves around its famous castle (Osaka-jo - see photo) built by the first Japanese ruler that united all of Japan in the 16th century. Finished in 1583, over 100,000 workers worked for three years to build Osaka-jo. It was Japan’s most impressive castle at that time.

Please also see our 10 other blog posts for wonderful Japan...

Japan (Northern) Hakodate Otaru Aomori

Japan Himeji

Japan Hiroshima

Japan Kyoto - Cherry Tree Blossoms (Sakura & Hanami)

Japan Kyoto - Famous Temples Shrines Palaces Castles

Japan Kyoto - Gardens

Japan Kyoto - Japanese Food

Japan Kyoto - Living and Impressions

Japan Nara

Japan Uji Fushimi-Inari Taisha Torii Gates

 

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

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Hiroshima & Miyajima, Japan

Floating Torii Gate (Itsukushima-jinja) 
- Miyajima, Japan

A-Bomb Dome - Hiroshima, Japan

Japanese School Children - Hiroshima

Children's Peace Monument 
- Hiroshima

School Children Practicing English with Pat 
- Hiroshima, Japan

After Atomic Bomb in 1945 - Hiroshima, Japan

People After Atomic Bomb

Giant Pot Eternal Flame (Is It Out?) 
- Miyajima, Japan

World's Largest Rice Paddle - Miyajima, Japan

Hiroshima & Miyajima, Japan (10/20-21/2009)

Hiroshima is a nice Japanese city to visit and very interesting to learn about the overwhelming devastation of atomic warfare.

At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was exploded over Hiroshima leveling the city for miles. This dreadful event leveled 40% of the Hiroshima's buildings and killed 140,000 people (of a then population of 350,000) with thousands more dying later from related causes.

Today with a population of over one million, you would not know anything happened here because now Hiroshima is a very vital modern Japanese city with wide boulevards (rare in Japan) and everything is less than 60 years old.

Hiroshima has a large Peace Memorial Park dedicated to the elimination of nuclear weapons. The A-Bomb Dome (see photo) is the remains of a building at ground zero and the only remaining evidence of the enormous damage. 

A 10-year old Japanese girl who developed leukemia after the atom bomb dropping inspired the Children’s Peace Monument. She decided to fold 1,000 paper cranes (a Japanese custom believing wishes come true). She died before completing the task. Thousands of folded paper cranes are brought to Hiroshima every year.

The well-done Peace Memorial Museum is the famous sobering symbol of the idiocy of war. We all know the reasons for the use of the atomic bomb but seeing the evidence (see photo) of burned bodies with flesh dripping from arms held out makes the reality of the event more human. And to think today we have nuclear weapons over 3,300 times more powerful! 

By the way, the museum also details the reasons that the Japanese brought this tragedy on themselves. Japan was responsible for horrible war crimes and Hiroshima was home to Japan’s military command as well as a major military ship building center.

The second day we took a day trip just outside of Hiroshima to Miyajima (Itsuka-shrima) - the floating torii gate of Itsukushima-jinja (see photo). This is one of the most famous scenes in Japan and is on thousands of Japanese travel brochures. We had the rare opportunity to witness the floating torii gate of Itsukushima-jinja at high tide - a beautiful sight. 

We also hiked up the Misen hill to see the hilltop temples and giant pot used by the Buddhist saint, Kobo Daishi said to have been kept continuously simmering since 774. We think we saw the flame out. You be the judge (see photo). Back in Mijajima we saw the world’s largest rice paddle (see photo).

Please also see our 10 other blog posts for wonderful Japan:

Japan (Northern) Hakodate Otaru Aomori

Japan Himeji

Japan Kyoto - Cherry Tree Blossoms (Sakura & Hanami)

Japan Kyoto - Famous Temples Shrines Palaces Castles

Japan Kyoto - Gardens

Japan Kyoto - Japanese Food

Japan Kyoto - Living and Impressions

Japan Nara

Japan Osaka

Japan Uji Fushimi-Inari Taisha Torii Gates

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ----> 

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!

Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE

Nara, Japan

Breakfast in Our Traditional Ryokan 
- Nara, Japan

Wayne Feeding the Deer of Nara 
- Nara Park, Japan

Daigutsu (Great Buddha) - Nara, Japan

Isuien Garden - Nara, Japan

Pat in Our Traditional Ryokan - Nara, Japan

Pat Feeding Bowing Deer of Nara

Todaiji Temple - Nara, Japan

Laterns at Kasuga Grand Shrine - Nara, Japan

Nara, Japan (10/17-19/2009) 

Nara, famous for its bowing deer, is a lovely smaller Japanese city with beautiful sites, quaint older traditional neighborhoods, and 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

In 710 Nara was established as Japan’s first permanent Japanese capital after the capital of Japan moved around for centuries. Although capital of Japan for only 74 years (a priest seduced an empress so the capital was moved away from the religious center), Nara witnessed a renaissance when Japan imported from China art, literature, architecture, and religion (Buddhism was introduced to Japan at this time).

The famous bowing deer of Nara are lovely (see photos)! Contrary to popular opinion, the deer of Nara are not trained to bow. The belief is that ages ago the people of Nara bowed to the deer when feeding them. Now, each generation of deer learn this behavior from the last generation. It is amazing to watch. You bow to them and they bow their heads to you.

We stayed in a traditional Japanese Ryokan. Sleeping on the floor was OK but the neat thing is the public bath and Japanese breakfast (see photo – sorry, not the bath).

Back to Nara’s remarkable history… with our outstanding Goodwill Guide, Kitty Oyama, we visited the Horyuji Temple (see photo), the oldest Buddhist Temple in Japan. Since most Japanese incorporate Buddhism in their lives in some way, the beginning of Buddhism in Japan and this temple holds a very dear place in their hearts. 

What’s really fantastic is that the Horyuji Temple itself is the original over 1,300 years old and is probably the oldest wooden structure in world.

In Nara, there is a huge beautiful park surrounding many of the significant sites. This is where the friendly (although sometimes a bit aggressive when you have food) deer are located. 

The largest wooden building in the world, Todaiji Temple is Nara’s main attraction housing the largest bronze Buddha (Daibutsuden - Great Buddha) in the world – more than 50 feet high (see photo). Also in Nara Park is Isui-en Gardens (beautiful!) and the famous Kofukufi Temple and Kasuga-taisha Grand Shrine (with an astounding 3,000 lanterns - beautiful place to wander - see photo).

Traditional Japanese Neighborhood (Nara-koen)

Most people do Nara in a day trip. That’s a shame because day and night Nara is a beautiful, historic, and less hectic Japanese city with traditional Japanese neighborhoods (Nara-koen).

Please also see our 10 other blog posts for wonderful Japan:

Japan (Northern) Hakodate Otaru Aomori

Japan Himeji

Japan Hiroshima

Japan Kyoto - Cherry Tree Blossoms (Sakura & Hanami)

Japan Kyoto - Famous Temples Shrines Palaces Castles

Japan Kyoto - Gardens

Japan Kyoto - Japanese Food

Japan Kyoto - Living and Impressions

Japan Osaka

Japan Uji Fushimi-Inari Taisha Torii Gates

 

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ----> 

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE

Kyoto, Japan - Living & Impressions

Geisha in Old Gion District 
- Kyoto, Japan

Modern Kyoto Station

Health Day Festival - Kyoto, Japan

Old Gion District - Kyoto, Japan

Shop Girls - Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto, Japan - Living in Kyoto (10/10-16/09) -  

If you are ever privileged to visit Japan, DON'T MISS KYOTO. Kyoto has made the list of our 7 wonders of our world travel of 100 countries and island groups. 

Home to over 1.5 million people with all the trappings of a modern city, Kyoto is known to be the historic, cultural, artistic, and spiritual center of Japan. Kyoto is also a city of contrasts. A city of astounding historical significance with 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, it has one of the most modern stylist train/subway central stations in the world. Just blocks from very modern high fashion department stores we found geisha girls (see photo) walking to and from their appointments in the historic Gion area. Right outside of your modern hotel room you find old style restaurants that feel like Japan was a hundred years ago. 

Pat Thinks She is a Geisa during
Cherry Blossom Season

No matter how you feel about Kyoto, the splendor of beautiful temples, shrines, gardens, villas, and palaces provide tranquility from what otherwise would be a large modern city. Escaping the city noise is easy especially in the old well-preserved Gion District (our favorite). When you visit Kyoto, don’t miss wandering the lovely old streets of the upper Gion area (between the Kiyomizu Temple and Maruyama Park). With its traditional houses, day or night it is a step back in time of how Japan was a hundred years ago and is a wonderful Japanese experience. 

Japanese tradition still flourishes in Kyoto although we suspect it is slowly diminishing. Japanese cuisine is healthy, very varied in many quite different styles, and is wonderful. On every block, hundreds of small restaurants could be found and we could not get enough Japanese food. 

Map - Kyoto, Japan

Some amazing attributes of the Japanese people are their politeness going out of their way to help you. Another is the way they respect others’ space. For example, you will never hear loud music or witness behavior that may offend others - very nice! One of the most interesting attributes is the fact that the Japanese incorporate many religions in their lives - Shinto (Japan’s home grown), Buddhism, and even Christmas - switching among them for different celebrations. 

The Japanese people are fit and healthy and have a national holiday to celebrate it. We came across a festival cerebrating a national holiday (health and sports).

For much more about wonderful Kyoto, please see our other 4 blog posts:

Japan Kyoto - Cherry Tree Blossoms (Sakura & Hanami)

Japan Kyoto Famous Temples Shrines Palaces Castles

Japan Kyoto Gardens

Japan Kyoto Japanese Food

Please also see our 6 other blog posts for wonderful Japan:

Japan (Northern) Hakodate Otaru Aomori

Japan Himeji

Japan Hiroshima

Japan Nara

Japan Osaka

Japan Uji Fushimi-Inari Taisha Torii Gates

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE