Japan- Osaka and Kyoto 

Osaka- Second largest city in Japan

Osaka Castle

We visited Osaka Castle which was built by the first emperor who unified Japan in the 1500s. It was complete with a moat and we climbed up to the castle proper and were able to go to the top for an amazing view of the city. Inside there was a museum and the history of the castle (told in Japanese holographs that moved around the inside castle walls- pretty cool).

No place is immune to the homeless

Osaka lady with pet iguana

Tasty stuff - what is it?

 There were many school groups there on field trips (made me smile remembering all the ALPHA field trips) in their uniforms and everyone wearing a matching hat according to grade level. I watched a teacher get all 34 students quickly and quietly in line with a voice barely above a whisper. There were no parent chaperones or other teacher assistants. The kids here are extremely well behaved and shyer than the Chinese kids.  In my limited Japanese, I was able to introduce myself as a teacher and

Well behaved children on a field trip to the Osaka Castle

found out the kids were all 4^th graders. I was allowed to take their picture and then everyone bowed and they all said hello together. I was surprised to learn that although English is taught in many of the schools, very few Japanese that we met spoke or understood English beyond a few basic words. 

Osaka Castle

 This is a very polite, quiet and courteous culture. Subway and train stations are very quiet; no one talks on the trains or subways - most are  looking at their cell phones but no one speaks or takes a call on the phone there (it is not allowed) in the same way that you cannot eat or drink on public transportation. This was in complete contrast to the noisy, talkative Chinese whose culture does not obsess where manners are concerned. Using the trains and subways in Japan does not mean risking your life - in China you were pushed, shoved and trounced on getting on and off the subways!!!!!

Late afternoon and evenings in Osaka were spent walking along the shops, a great deal of people watching and checking out the many interesting restaurants. 

The Japanese are crazy about Halloween

Osaka shopping district along a canal

Just a small portion of the shopping district

Mirrored escalator - which way is up?

 The main restaurant area was along a narrow river and in a “small Times Square” like area- plenty of neon signs, young teens all decked out and many 20 and 30 year old couples out for an evening stroll.  We stopped to watch a group of young men doing parkour (urban ninjas doing crazy jumps on rails and sidewalks- check it out on YouTube).

We had a fantastic dining experience in an okonomiyaki restaurant.  The food was unique to Osaka, considered “Japanese pizza” or Osaka soul food - it was delicious. It was served on a heated surface with different sauces.

 A few comments on Japanese dining - no tipping, always getting a warm cloth to clean hands before eating, a button to call the waiter over when you are ready to order and you always pay at the cashier. They are a very service oriented country; lots of bowing and thank yous!!!

On one of the days Beth came down with a very bad cold - all of us got it in stages - and so she spent the day in bed at the hotel while everyone else went to the Osaka Aquarium - the best one in Japan - Jeff did a nice video for her so she got the virtual tour. Her Kindle and a large box of tissues kept her company all day. 

Kyoto

We took the train to Kyoto and if you were to measure a city by its monuments, Kyoto would be one of the world’s greatest.  It has 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 1,600 temples, 400 shrines and more picturesque gardens than anyone could count (and Beth would have loved to visit every one of them). Kyoto is a much smaller, traditional city with only 1.2 % of the population but has 20% of Japan’s national treasures. So we let our son pick the most important sites.

Kyoto Train Station

Once we arrived at the train station, a work of art in itself, we stowed our suitcases in the lockers and headed to the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

One of the entrances to the Imperial Palace

A 2' wide sample the palace roof made of countless layers of thin cedar bark

  
We had a tour (in English) of the palace which would be the equivalent of going to the White House (we had to submit our passports ahead of time for clearance). The grounds included many beautiful buildings, gardens and shrines. This was where the Shoguns once ruled and was the capitol before it was moved to Tokyo. 

A serene setting at the palace

After a nice tempura lunch we visited the Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto’s most iconic Zen temple; a three story pavilion with its upper two stories coated in gold leaf.

Then to the Ryoan-ji, home to “the world’s finest Zen garden”. The story is that no one knows who the designer was or what it was supposed to represent, so it is left to the viewer to contemplate the placement of the 15 perfectly placed stones.

The highlight of our stay in Kyoto was our hotel. We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel, Nishiyama Ryokan. We had a suite with one room having 4 Japanese style beds on the floor.

 The second room a low table with wooden chairs (no legs) and cushions.

There was a small bathroom, but in Japan, bathing is a communal affair. Very interesting!! We had a traditional 7 course dinner beautifully served.

We all had on our matching kimonos (the first and last time the Pinkus family will wear matching outfits!) I ate things that I am sure I have never eaten and I wasn’t completely sure what some of the dishes were; but we were all being very adventuresome. The breakfast was again uniquely Japanese; all of the food was very fresh and of the highest quality. I had never had boiling tofu soup, rice and pickled vegetables as part of my breakfast menu.  The only familiar item on the table was a wedge of grapefruit. Our son was the most adventuresome with the food items with Jeff coming in second. There were no dogs to feed or paper napkins to spit into if you did not like the taste of something. I ate and swallowed many “interesting” foods.  The hotel had a nice garden and we participated in a tea ceremony before we left. It was a very cool experience; sure to be one of the best memories of the trip.