Osaka with Alicia

14th July, 2007

I had to act as another guide today as Alicia and I were heading to Osaka for the day. The weather hadn’t improved since yesterday so again we took our umbrellas and went on our way to Osaka.
I was going to take Alicia to the Osaka Castle but as it was pouring with rain I didn’t think that it would be the best idea. So we decided to have a shopping day. Our first stop was Yodabashi – an amazing electrical store (AND pretty much everything). We tend to spend a lot of time in this store. It caters for everyone!! Alicia was amazed at how huge this store was. It took her a while to believe what she was seeing. After we browsed Yodabashi we headed to Shinsaibashi mall which is gigantic and great for shopping. I often buy clothes from this mall. We then headed to the River area and I found the moss covered shrine – Alicia thought that it was pretty amazing considering it was tucked away in a little alley way (I can’t believe that I even found it!). The rain had not let up all day and we were getting hungry so I took Alicia to the place where I first went for dinner in Japan. Here Alicia got to experience sitting on the floor and eating a HUGE Japanese meal. I tried eel for the first time tonight. It was actually quite tasty.

Our Nara Adventure

13th July, 2007

I had planned to take Alicia to Nara today – somewhere I had never been before. I was a little nervous because this was the first time that I actually had to be a guide on my own – and if you know my sense of direction…..well you would be slightly worried. It was pouring with rain when we woke up but we didn’t let that stop us from our adventure. We just took out umbrellas and went on our jolly way.

Nara is about 2 hours away from Himeji and it is a fantastic place. I absolutely loved Nara. There are lots of things to see in Nara and so we tried to fit in as many things as we could in the day – and I tell you we were on the go the entire time (we only stopped to have lunch for 15 minutes). We headed to Nara Koen as this is where the main attractions are. Nara Koen is a big park where many deer roam around and where the biggest Buddha lies. It also has lots of temples and shrines to visit. Some of these are world heritage listed. The deer are quite tame and seem to like people. They come right up to you so that you can touch them if you want. There are deer crackers that you can feed them too. Alicia and I were very hesitant about the deer and so just went near enough to them to have a quick photo before moving on.

Todaiji Temple was our first stop. This was an amazing temple and just magnificent to look at. It was so big. In this temple is where the largest wooden Buddha in the world lives. It was so huge and amazing. It's 14.98 metres tall.




We came to a pole which had a hole in it. The hole was said to be as big as the Buddha’s nostril and if you could fit through it you were said to have good luck. Well of course I wanted to give it ago. It didn’t look all that big and I thought that I was going to get stuck but when I saw quite a few people fitting through, it made me feel better. I gave Alicia my camera and told her to take the pictures and to help me if I got stuck. Well I made it – I actually made it through 4 times. The first photo’s were blurry, so I did it again stopping at each stage so that Alicia could get some good photos, then I wanted it videoed so I did it again. The video never worked so I did it again to capture it on film. Well it worked that time and I was happy. We probably spent 40 minutes at the hole but it was very amusing. I was hot and sweaty by the fourth time. When I went home to video was nowhere to be found. How disappointing. Just as well I got good photos!! Here is each stage………









Our next mission was Kasuga Taisha Shrine. This was very difficult to find but with Alicia’s great map reading skills and my wonderful Japanese we found it. :-)


We then headed to Kofukuji Temple which consisted of a five storied pergoda. We even got lucky to see a little ceremony taking place at the temple. Many people dung a little instrument and shook a bell and I wanted to have a go too.



Sarusawa -ike Pond was the next thing we saw. Then we wondered a while and stumbled across a Japanese traditional house which we were allowed to enter. This was pretty cool. By this stage it was 5:30 and we were very wet and tired. We decided to head to the main street to have a look at some shops grab some tea and then head back to Himeji. We didn’t get home until 11pm. It was a very enjoyable day but a tiring one.

Izukaya

12th July, 2007

Izukaya’s are very popular types of restaurants in Japan. You can go there with big groups of people to eat. The food is usually very cheap but the idea is that you buy an assortment of dishes and you all share them. It is a good way to try new things to see whether or not you like them. It is a great place to take guests and since Alicia was here and Lauren had 3 guests here too we decided to take them to an Izukaya. Alicia experienced many different types of Japanese food here and even had to use chopsticks for the first time. She tried really hard to get the hang of the chopsticks and she did quite well. It was just amusing watching her reactions to different things.

some of the food.......

Welcome to Japan Alicia!

10th July, 2007

I am so excited Alicia has finally arrived in Japan. She got in at 9:20pm and didn't get to Himeji until 1am where I picked her and Steve up from the train station. After we got settled at home and chatted - it was 2am before we got to bed. We woke up today at 7:30 to check out Himeji before we headed to the University for my class. We are both very tired today but I had to blog about Alicia's arrival. We have lots of fun filled days ahead of us which will definitely require lots of energy!!

Time for a Cocktail!!

10th July, 2007

Marie's friend Aleysha has arrived in Japan so we decided to celebrate with some cocktails. We made Toblerones and they were delicious!! Aleysha is so excited about being in Japan - who wouldn't be. She has very jam packed days ahead of her. It's always exciting when people come over.

Ceremony

10th July, 2007

Steve, Lauren, Jodi and I attended a ceremony at Yashiro-Ohtoshi Shrine. The purpose of this ceremony is for people to have good health and happiness for the next 6 months. This ceremony is performed every 6 months. A ‘Chinowa’ is made which is a wreath made of thatch grass. There is a set routine that people must follow when stepping through the Chinowa. You basically do a figure 8 then walk straight through. After you have followed the correct path you walk up to the shrine where you pray. A priest then performed another ceremony chanting various words. When the chants were completed he picked up some grass leaves which were dipped in water and swung around so that the water could land on the people in the crowd. This was to bless the people and to provide them with good health and happiness. It was interesting to watch and take part in this ceremony.

Foot Spas

Hot foot spas are another perk about being in Japan. I have now experienced my second foot spa. This area was in Fukura where we went for the day. It was free for people to just sit and relax with their feet in hot water. So relaxing!! Steve doesn’t really like putting his feet in hot water so he just sat on the benches while we put our feet in. I could have sat there for hours but we needed to catch the last bus home.