First tour…off to Nara

Our first tour with the group.  There are 19 of us.  We head off to Kasugataisha Shrine in Nara.  It’s a World Heritage Site.  It’s a beautiful day.  Warm and sunny.

…

These are Saki containers.  Very colourful.

Cindy is a great guide.  Full of energy and information.  She will only be our guide for one day as the other guide is finishing up with a group from Australia.





These gates are known as Torii Gates.  They are the entrances to the spirit world in the Shinto religion which is very common in Japan.

The park is full of deer.  You can buy food and feed them.  They actually bow to you. It’s hilarious. 

All dressed up. So cute!











This is a Buddha Temple. 







The power of touch??



One mean looking dude.



The Dotonbori Canal.



We finish off the evening by having dinner in the Dotonbori district.  Quite lively out and the lights make it special.  11,954 steps today!

Day in Osaka..walking tour!

We have arranged a walking tour of Osaka hi lites and have to meet our tour guide at 8:30 am.  We catch the early train to Osaka to meet the tour guide.

It’s busy on the train this Monday morning..this would not be a fun commute!  Even though it’s crowded it’s very quiet.  It seems Japanese people are very respectful of the people around them.

Osaka Station is a very busy place.



Our tour guide Taran.  Very knowledgeable.  There are just three other people on this tour.  Victoria from Kiev, Ukraine and Jenn and Matt from Melbourne, Australia.  Really nice people.  



Interesting signage on the street.

Some impressive buildings downtown.  Here is a museum and the NHK Broadcasting building.  There are 8 million people in Osaka. 

This is the moat surrounding Osaka Castle which is our first stop of the day. We’re just headed onto the property.

Meeting a few characters along the way. These characters are very popular in Japan.

Famous war lord from the 1600’s.  Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

View from the castle.





Beautiful Osaka Castle originally built 1583.



Ramen for lunch.



We visit the Dotonbori Area (known as the bright heart of Osaka) It is the entertainment area.  Full of restaurants.



Dotonbori Canal



Victoria posing as the Running Man (as seen behind her).  Very famous in Osaka representing victory.



Lots of gaudy signage.



This temple was built where people were executed in the 1600’s.  The temple provides a place for people to pray for the souls of the people that died here.



In the temple is a Buddha status covered in moss.  There is a bucket with water and a ladle and anyone can toss water on the Buddha to enable the moss to grow.



My new buddy



Our luck runs out and the rain starts.  This temple was our last temple of the day.
We did 19,170 steps today.  I’m exhausted.  We still had to get the train back to our hotel.  End of a very interesting day.

Japan! We have arrived!

Sue drove us to Vancouver International Airport on November 3/23.  We’re off to Japan….finishing up in Sri Lanka.

Marlene and I arriving at YVR



Flying Air Canada.  We have a delay in boarding due to mechanical issues on the boarding ramp and then the pilot explained that the route had been altered (I think due to turbulence) which would extend our flight time by over 1.5 hours.  It was already going to be 10 hours so now it seems waaaaay longer.  Lots of turbulence but we make it.





Waiting for our Airport Limousine service to take us to Haneda Airport where our hotel is located.  Great service.  Very comfortable.  We then had to manoeuvre the train system to take the train to our hotel.  Only 3 stops and 200 yen.  We then walk to our hotel which was about 10 minutes arriving at 10:30 pm but my body was saying it’s 4 am!  Off to bed.  Comfy bed.



Breakfast was included!  This is it and only chopsticks!  Coffee was extra.  I don’t think coffee is a priority here.  Sure tasted good though.



It’s quite warm today as we head back to the train station to head back to the airport.  We fly out to Osaka to meet our tour group.



Flying Japan Airlines.  The airport is huge!  Big difference in that there are very limited options for something to eat once we go through security.  One coffee place but we were able to get a latte.  Woohoo!

Mt. Fuji poking through the clouds.

Flying into Osaka.  Beautiful day. 

View from our hotel room. We’re on the 34th floor. There are 54 floors.  Nice hotel just one train stop from Kansai Airport. 

Our hotel is located close to a mall where we went for dinner. This was a store that just has all these little machines where you put in some money and it gives you a small surprise. They are all over Japan. I really don’t see what the fascination is!  Crazy!

Off to bed.  We’re doing a walking tour tour tomorrow so we have to be up early.  It’s at least an hours train ride from our hotel in to the downtown section of Osaka!