.::* Living and Dreaming *::.

November 30 - Osaka and Kyoto

Today I had my first glimpse of Osaka and Kyoto. Mr. Maeda and I went to a Fuel Cell Exhibition in Osaka but we also got the opportunity to see a very popular street called Dotonbori beforehand. It’s a very lively street with lots of people. There are restaurants and Pachinko (more on this later) and just lots of lights and advertisements. The streets feeding off this one has some shops I think. We didn’t stay long since we had to get to the exhibition.

Again, everything at the exhibition was in Japanese, however, for the seminar, they had translation devices. I only got to use mine for 5 minutes since we only got to catch the tail end of it.

After that, we went to Kyoto to see the Kiyomizu Temple. To get there we had to walk up a hill but along the way there are lots of shops and restaurants selling a variety of treats and souvenirs. The temple itself was pretty interesting but I found it was more like a tourist trap. There were signs to urge people to vote for the temple to become one of the Seven Wonders of the World and there were lots of booths selling charms and trinkets. You can also buy fortunes and there were lots of shrines were you could throw in a coin and ask for a blessing. I am familiar with some of the rituals and charms since I grew up watching Chinese television and have become slightly superstitious but being at this temple, I didn’t buy into most of what was going on. Still, I was happy to have a chance to see this temple, especially in the autumn when all the leaves were red and the view was fantastic.

I don’t know if it was because there was the lighting of the temple at night or if it’s just a popular place but there were a lot of people at the temple. Mr. Maeda and I left to have dinner but we went back again to see it at night. The temple only has night viewings two times a year and it’s really pretty when it’s lit up. A little bit spooky too but you’ll see in the pictures. Also, you can pay to actually go into some buildings. We went into one and we basically walked around in the dark until we got to a stone sculpture and then we were out again. I’m guessing there is something special about the stone because people touched it and said a prayer when they walked by. We also paid to see a special garden, however the tour guide spoke in Japanese and I completely missed out on the whole story around it. I was actually too tired to fully enjoy the experience. The sleeping on the floor deal is catching up to me. I need to find a new mattress!

posted by ~diana~ @ 5:36 PM