Snow, shopping arcades and Kyoto.

As you may have noticed, its been a while since I last posted anything here, largely due to work commitments, so I thought I would post a quick rundown of anything noteworthy from the last two months.

To start off, here are some photos of the recent snowfall in Osaka city, the first proper snow I have seen in the city.

Next up is a visit to a cafe called Mole which is built inside the vaults of an old bank. The Cafe serves very good, if a little expensive coffee.

On a considerably less cold day, we recently visited Tenjinbashi-suji, supposedly the longest shopping arcade in Japan! We also made a brief stop to check out the nearby temple.

I made my second visit to Kyoto a few weeks back, in order to see an exhibition by the Japanese Illustrator Junzo Terada. The exhibition was held inside a large department store next to Kyoto station and was very impressive, with work ranging from posters to models and animation.

We also spent time browsing a number of craft shops in town.

The Exhibition flyer.

A Tanooki lined stairway

From the top of the stairway

Well that's about it for the update, hopefully I will find the time to write on a more regular basis, watch this space!

Kamakura Part 2

After a rather dramatic start, (see Kamakura Coin Locker Drama) the rest of our weekend in Kamakura was very enjoyable. On the Saturday we visited a nearby seaside town which has a beach area that looks like it consists of volcanic rock (great if you enjoy exploring rock pools). There is also a lighthouse up on the cliff top surrounded by what looks like mock roman architecture for some strange reason. For lunch we stopped at a rather run down restaurant near the beach, we were a little reluctant to enter at first as one entrance was guarded by angry looking hornets but our hunger overcame fear and we ventured in. After deliberating over the menu for some time we eventually ordered the grilled squid and sashimi which wasn't too bad in the end. We finished the day by visiting a few nearby shops, including a rather nice antique shop, and watched the sun go down on the beach where many people had gathered to have barbecues.

 Is this Japan?

 One of many rock pools.

 Hoping for stray fish.

 He was probably happily swimming along a moment ago.

 Watching the sun set.

The following day we set off on foot to explore Kamakura further. Our root took us through Shakado pass which is a tunnel that leads through a rock face, I had been through the pass on my previous visit to Kamakura but this time we were shocked to find that the entrance had been partly blocked off by a rock fall! We hesitated for a while, wondering whether we should venture further, but having seen an elderly couple ahead of us bravely bound across the fallen rocks, we decided that we would give it a try. After a bit of a struggle we made it through to the other side safely and breathed a sigh of relief only for me to slip up and land on my rear on the muddy rocks, at least the others found it a source of amusement!

 

 Shakado pass two years ago.

 

 Shakado pass in November 2010.

We later met up with other friends that we hadn't seen for some time and enjoyed okonomiyaki and drinks together before browsing more shops and temples. The end of the weekend came around all too quickly and before we knew it was time to say our goodbyes. Our journey back was by night bus which left Kamakura around 9.30 PM and didn't arrive in Osaka until 6.oo AM! Its an okay journey if you find it easy to sleep at the drop of a hat but for light sleepers like myself it can be a bit grueling as they turn off all the lights and pull all the curtains to so you don't even have any scenery to look at! But we made it in the end and look forward to our next visit to Kamakura (as long as I am more observant when locking my belongings away).

 Those temple steps haven't been used for some time!

Some much needed peace and quiet.

Nara

One place I have been meaning to visit for a while now is Nara. As Saturday was a warm, sunny day we decided to finally make the trip and headed out by train to the West of Osaka, the journey took around forty-five minutes and passed in no time.

After a trek from the station up a hill that leads up through the town past various shops selling Nara souvenirs, we reached the main park area of Nara. We stopped at a small nearby soba restaurant that we had read about, we ate cold soba with tempura which was really tasty and some of the best I have tasted, the place is nice and quiet too. I say quiet, however there is one custom in Japan that I have still yet to become accustomed to, that of making as loud a slurping sound as possible when eating soba (supposedly a sign of appreciation). Anyone that knows me well knows of my lack of tolerance when it comes to loud eaters, so this is a particularly tough challenge for me but luckily this restaurant was the only place where it was that noticeable).

A great place for soba, if you don't mind the slurping!

After eating we headed up through the park, one thing that is immediately noticeable is the amount of deer, there are hundreds of them! They are all really friendly and quite happily stand around amongst the crowds of people, hoping for a rice cracker that you can buy from stalls dotted around the place.

Deer oh deer!

Our second stop was at the Daibutsuden temple, which is the biggest wooden structure in the world and houses a fifty-foot statue of Buddha. The sheer size of the building is breathtaking, as is the statue inside and a definite must-see when visiting Nara.

 

That's one big temple.

 

The entrance to the temple.

 

That's one big Buddha!

 

A scary looking customer!

After spending some time strolling though the park, dodging deer droppings, we eventually headed back into town and spent some time browsing the various small shops along small back streets. One place of particular interest was the Narakougei-kan Crafts Centre, a place selling many incredible wooden sculptures by local artists. Unfortunately they were all a little out of my price range otherwise I would have come back with armfuls of those wonderful things!

 

Some cute bunny wunnies.

A nice cuddly octopus.

Visiting Nara was an very enjoyable day out and I would like to go back again to see the things we missed, and to climb Mount Wakakusa to the west of the park, something I just didn't have the energy to tackle this time!

 

The four attack skills of an angry deer.

 

Not more deer!