Osaka Adventure Day 1

I know I haven't finished with Taiwan yet, but I got lazy.  Is anyone surprised?  I know, right?

I got up at the usual time today and headed out for Osaka - once again walking to the station in the cold because I'm too cheap to park my car nearby for 500yen a day, though for a three-day trip, I could have managed.  IT'S GOOD EXERCISE.

In Hamamatsu, I somehow bought just half of my Shinkansen ticket - I THOUGHT it was less than half of what I expected!  The time it took to adjust that ate all my extra time at the station, so I wasn't able to buy the unagi pie I wanted to get for Ashley and Cynthia's host family.  Booo. I didn't get a seat on the train, either!  I stood from Hamamatsu to Nagoya (which only takes less than 30 minutes as a straight shot), but managed to get a seat for the rest of the trip.  I nodded off shortly after leaving Nagoya and when I woke up, there was snow outside!!  I know this isn't exciting for those of you getting dumped on at home now, but since it doesn't snow in Kosai, it's been a while for me.  Unfortunately, all that white fluffiness was gone before we reached Kyoto.

Once in Osaka, my goal was to get to my hostel and drop off my suitcase.  But first, Starbucks.  All right.  Then into the crummy maze of hallways, stairs, and escalators it takes to get to the subway.  >.<  So far, Osaka has the crappiest subway I've been on in Japan.  The stations are mazes, don't have convenience stores, and just feel meh.  The trains all have the same gross orange-colored upholstery which needs to be replaced.  That said, it's pretty convenient and there are lots of stations with lots of overlaps in the lines (which was Taipei's biggest flaw in their system, I think).

I didn't really have any trouble finding the hostel.  I wrote down directions with landmarks (convenience stores XD ) from what I saw on GoogleMaps, so that helped.  I was surprised to find that this hostel - called A La Maison - is actually owned by a Frenchman!  I assumed it was a Japanese person being 'international' or something.  haha~

I dropped off my suitcase, had a cup of tea, played with Vanilla the mini-poodle, then set off for my first destination: Sumiyoshi Taisha (it's a shrine).  More subway, then I took the tram to get the rest of the way there.

According  to Wiki (because Sumiyoshi Taisha didn't have any info booklets that I could see), the shrine's history dates back to 211AD and although it's not the oldest shrine to enshrine the three Sumiyoshi deities, it is the main one.  Walking in through the torii, there's this really rad bridge that is so steep, it has steps built onto it so people can walk over it.

This 'Power Spot' caught my eye.  If you find three stones with 'five,' 'big,' and 'power' written on them, you keep them for good luck.  Oh, and you're supposed to buy a special bag to put them into.  Of course.

I found them in pretty short order.  Although there were all kinds of different pebbles, I made sure to get three similar ones.  Because that kind of thing is important to me.  XD  I bought the pouch to put them in.

There's a bunny statue.  Notttt sure what it's for, but you're supposed to rub it.  I saw lots of people rubbing it,  but that was about it.  One lady rubbed the rabbit rather extensively, then rubbed her legs and back, so maybe it's supposed to help body pains or something?

The big bridge from a smaller side bridge.

Back onto the tram.  I like Hiroshima's trams better.

Next on the list was Shitennoji, which is a Bhuddhist temple founded in 593.  I would like to quote the English textbooks here and note that it was founded by "Prince Shotoku in the Asuka Era".  I don't remember the rest of the sentence, but other than the fact the textbook it talking about a different temple (in nearby Nara), it pretty much fits.  Again, no English pamphlets, so all you're getting in pictures.

So as not to bore you with too many pictures of the outside of buildings, I didn't include all of them here.  Inside, to the left of the shorter building you see, there's a big hall with some beautiful Buddhas and very old paintings on the walls.  Of course, photography isn't allowed.

I went into the pagoda.  It's got a double-helix staircase for going up and down and each level has a bunch of little mini-pagodas that people have bought for prayers, I think.  You have to take your shoes off even though the stairs are obviously not old.  My feet got cold.  >.<  I wasn't the only one a bit sort of breath by the time I reached the top.  This would be a bear in the summer.

Those lanterns are all paid for by patrons.  Their names are written on them.

I assumed this was a side gate, but it's where the guardians are, so perhaps it's the proper front gate?

I know you're not supposed to take pictures of priests and priestesses at shrines and I imagine monks are the same way... no disrespect intended, sir.

The gravel around the buildings is raked into rows, but there were some places where the pattern was messed up.  It couldn't be people walking on it, so I wondered what could have happened.  Then I spied the culprits.

It irritates me when signs are like this, because it CLEARLY has a lot more to say than is translated.

That's about it for Shitennoji.  According to Wiki, it's the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan.  Due to age, wars, and various other happenings, the buildings are reconstructed as necessary, but always in the original style.

The hostel owner told me there was good kushi-katsu (fried food on a stick) to be had in Shin-Sekai, so although I was back and forth about whether to go or not, I headed that way.  His directions were vague, so it took me about half an hour and asking three people to head in the right direction.  The last person I checked with was a security guard outside a temple.  It seemed pretty big, so I asked the name of it after asking about Shin-Sekai.  He told me it's called Isshinji and that it's known for its BUDDHAS MADE FROM THE CREMATED REMAINS OF ITS PATRONS.  O_____________________________________________________O

You had me at 'Buddhas from dead people'.

Officially the most English I've seen in Osaka so far.

Coolest guardian statues evar.  Note: not made of people.

So... this is the hall with the Buddhas made of ashes of dead people.  I wasn't sure about going in.

At the sight of this I decided not to.  I really hate taking off my shoes because they're a pain to put back on.  I already took them off once to go up in that silly pagoda and certainly, photography wouldn't be allowed here, either.

The pamphlet is actually quite informative as to the history of the temple and the statues.  The temple was founded in 1185 and during the Battle of Osaka in the Sengoku period, the Tokugawa troops were headquartered there.  The first Okotsubutsu was made in 1887, using the remains of "some 150,000 personl laid to rest in the Isshinji Temple," and it was the first of its kind in the world.  In 1945, during "the War" as it was translated on one of the plaques, the temple suffered great losses under the air raids, so everything has been rebuilt since the 1950s.  Since the creation of the first one, they have made a statue every 10 years.  The first six were lost with the temple during the war, but the subsequent seven are on display.

I think it's a really interesting thing to do and I kind of get why they do it, but it kind of grosses me out.  Like I find the thought of someone's remains being made into a diamond to be gross but interesting and understandable.

I headed down the hill to find Shinsekai. The name means 'New World' but it's a sad shell of its former self and is almost a tourist trap for being a FORMER tourist trap.  It's interesting.

Anti-climactic first look.  It looked more exciting - or at least more colorful - online.

People lined up around the building for the kushi-katsu here.

As I got closer to the tower, I found more people and more color.  On the other side of it, I found lots of brightly-colored shops and balloon-like decorations on them.

Fun building decorations.

These looked like wood, but I don't think they actually were - that would be awfully heavy!

Sumo decorations on this one.

This fancy person could cut your hair.  OH OSAKA.  I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.

A more exciting vantage from the other side of the street.

After trying really hard to find the area where my hostel guy said there was a good kushi-katsu place, I kinda gave up and went to a place that looked good.  The person there said they were full, would I like to go to their second shop?  Uh, okay.  So an employee led me a little way down the road to the secondary store.

Where I was the only customer.

Is this where they put the gaijin?

Once seated, I was given my sauce and cabbage.  <___________<

The multi-lingual menu with the strict ONLY DIP ONCE rule in the corner.  Their shirts said it too.  And he told me about five times there's a no double-dipping rule.

I ordered: (on the left, back to front) lotus root, onion
(on the right, back to front) mochi, Camembert cheese with blueberry sauce, eggplant, and mushroom
And I'll give a shout-out to my ginger ale back there.  HELLO.  YOU TASTED VERY AVERAGE.

 It was very yummy.  I got a bit more.

This is garlic, pumpkin, and some sort of small green peppers.

I mistakenly thought they'd DO something with the garlic.  However, it was just... garlic.  Hahahaha~~  As much as I love garlic, I normally don't just eat it outright like that.

The sun was setting and I wanted to visit Cynthia's host family's liquor store, even though I didn't have time to get the token gift I meant to take for them.  I found it just fine and bought a bottle of whatever the lady recommended for something sweet and easy to drink.  Then I got all awkward and asked if she was Ueda-san and said I was Cynthia's friend.  It was a brief conversation.  Not a bad one, but slightly awkward.  Then I took my pink umeshuu and left.

It was pretty and well-organized.  The staff lady was very helpful.  GO HERE.

After that, it was back to the hostel to wait on Ashley and start this.

The room.  It's quite cold.  The only source of warmth is the kotatsu.  We're currently planning on sleeping with our feet in the kotatsu and just nesting our upper bodies in our futons.  I like this plan.

I got this mostly done, then went to meet Ashley at the station.  Uhhh.  That's about it.  I'm not very awake now.  Tomorrow: Osaka Castle, DenDenTown, Dotomburi, Amerika-mura, and possibly other things.  Yaaay.  T__________________T

Time for bed.