Forgive me but I seem to be fascinated with Japanese toilets. This one below has a washing sink where the water flows before filling the toilet tank. What a cool idea….as opposed to ours back home which are a solid tank top. How nice to be able to wash your hands or get a drink when you are in a tiny room which doesn’t have a sink.
Toilet with a wash basin
One does get the sense that Japan is a country of high-tech, neon lights, and colourful advertising. The streets are so unique with lots of action as chef’s cook food in front of their restaurants and call out for patrons.
Sean and Marilyn buying Octupus balls
Wall of advertising in Dotonbori
We traveled by train to Dotonbori which is a suburb of Osaka to attend Kabuki Theatre. Kabuki is a classical Japanese dance-drama which has been part of the Japanese culture for more than 400 years and features elaborate costumes, an orchestra, dance, dialogue, and what seems like pantomime. The full production is over four hours long so we took in one segment of ‘farce’. Despite not understanding the dialogue it was a beautiful production and easy to follow. The theme of what we saw was -‘husband sneaks away for night of drinking and debauchery and gets caught by his wife’. ( I think there is a moral there somewhere..ha ha)
Kabuki Theatre
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the theatre.
Dotonbori river runs through the commercial district
Giant moving crab sign
This giant moving crab is a famous landmark which has been around since 1934
Japanese Mount Rushmore
The four figures above grace the front of the Dotonbori Hotel and may explain why Japanese people, on average, are short. When Sean first came to Japan his orientation was held at this hotel. In my last blog, I posted a picture of the first temple built in Japan. Imagine my surprise when we also came across the “first’ kitchen.
One night when we went out for dinner, we happened to be at the same location as a giant ferris wheel which towers 85 meters into the air and takes 18-20 minutes to make is full circle. Julian, Marilyn and I went on it and got an amazing night time view over Osaka.
Sean and Makiko watched from below and we wish we had taken along some water balloons.
Honey, I shrunk the kids
Sean also arranged a pretty incredible solar eclipse for our visit (he is well connected). It happened around 7:30am and was dubbed ‘the ring of fire eclipse’ due to the fact that the moon ended up in the centre of the sun which caused a bright ring around it. We used ‘solar glasses’ and all the neighbours were out watching as well. Very cool.
Marilyn viewing the eclipse
Sean and Julian
How it looked through the solar glasses
Another highlight of our trip to Japan was our visit to Nara which was the first capital of Japan (710-784) until the Buddhist monks started becoming a threat to the government. (I’m trying to imagine a Buddhist protest march). There are several temples surrounded by a beautiful forested park, museums, and lots of deer to feed. It also has some of the world’s oldest wooden buildings.
Family Temple of Fujiwara clan in Nara
These guys really knew how to live (and worship). The picture below is the Todaiji (Great Eastern)Temple. The temple was constructed in 752 as the head temple of all Provincial Buddhist temples in Japan.
Todaiji Temple
Todaiji Temple is the world’s largest wooden building and houses a giant wooden buddha along with several other statues.
Giant Buddha
It’s hard to portray the size of this Buddha in a picture but it is huge. As an example, the hole Julian is passing through in the picture below is the size of the Buddha’s nostril.
The temple is a popular location for school trips and there were thousands of students visiting on the day we went. As a class project, some students were obviously asked to practice their English and several came up to us (the obvious tourists) and politely asked if it was okay. After answering their questions they gave us origami figures….very cute.
In the surrounding park, we fed the deer which can become aggressive when after some cookie snacks. Marilyn kept saying ‘NO’ to them but they didn’t listen. She should have read this sign which is NOT a ‘deer training manual’.
Feeding (and training) the deer
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Another stature inside the temple
We’ve been enjoying lots of Japanese food and having fun at some of the very unusual restaurants. The “Kura Zushi” takes fast food to a new level. When you enter, you sit in a booth which has a conveyer belt moving next to it with all kinds of dishes. You grab what you want as the food passes or you can order special dishes by pushing a button and waiting for it to arrive on a second conveyor belt. As you finish a dish of food, you deposit the dish in a shoot which records how many dishes you had….all at 100 yen each. Tally up your order, pay your bill and you are taken out to your car on another rolling sidewalk (okay that part I made up).
Kara Zushi Restaurant -lots of variety
Obviously fish is a staple of the Japanese diet and so is rice but it’s amazing how many different ways it is prepared. Oh yeah, the beer is quite good here as well.
Watching the food go by
It’s hard to believe we have already been here for a week with only one week left to go. Sean and Makiko are working today and Friday so we get to spend lots of time with Julian. We plan to visit a Japanese Spa, see a Castle, and take a trip to Kyoto among other things. On Sunday we are spending the day with Makiko’s parents.
Here are few pictures to end my blog.
Dinner at home
Men pounding to make sticky rice
Makiko
Accidental picture taken of my leg
