Osaka & Kyoto (29th of August)

Well this morning we arrived in Osaka to a wonderful welcome - they had a fire-boat out in the harbour doing a big water display, was very nice.


Osaka is an interesting city, very large!


We had an hour and a half's trip to Kyoto, and I think the whole time we were in an urban environment (it was like being in a single city the whole distance) - Kyoto is a bit different, smaller buildings and a lot older.


One thing I found interesting was the frequency of shrines and such, they're everywhere - Bhuddist Temples or Shinto Shrines all over the place. Our first stop was the Nijo Castle - used by the Shoguns of ancient Japan, the particular place we visited was built around 400 years ago, it's in the process of resoration, very interesting.


Next stop was lunch at a nice hotel (western style lunch, or at least close to it).
We then visited the 'Golden Pavilion' (Rokuon-Ji temple), it's a world heritage listed site and is extremely impressive and beautiful - they used 20 odd tons of Gold in it's construction (the whole two top levels are coated in gold!).


Our final stop was the Garden of Heian Jingu Shrine - this is a major Shinto Shrine, surrounded by a large series of gardens. We went for a tour of the temple and the gardens, it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.



Japan's a nice place to visit - next time I come back I'll make sure I've learned a bit of the language though!

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