Osaka and Kyoto!

[kyo_9]

wow.. after seeing the pics.. I just can't wait to go osaka and kyoto this march

[samokan]

more pics around Osaka, Kyoto, nara, and Kobe

Maniniyot

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by samokan

more pics around Osaka, Kyoto, nara, and Kobe

Maniniyot

Beautiful pictures! Did you use the blue bags at Miyajima to collect clams? I saw quite a few people gathering clams under the torii at low tide when I was there.

I somehow missed the sakura-lined walk in Kyoto! That looks lovely, though I was there in late fall-early winter, so it wouldn't have looked as nice. As close as it was to me (about 2.5 hours by train), I only made it to Kyoto once, for a 1 day trip in which I hit all the main temples. For some reason, Kyoto was very unlucky for me... I tried to get there 6 times, failing each time for some reason, only succeeding on the 7th try. Sometimes it was nasty weather, sometimes another event came up at the last minute, sometimes I was sick... it was crazy! Each time I'd tell the Japanese teachers at my school "This weekend I'm finally going to make it to Kyoto!", and each time, Monday morning "Nope, something stopped me again..." Well, at least I made it 1 time, and it was very nice.

[samokan]

Originally Posted by samurai007

Beautiful pictures! Did you use the blue bags at Miyajima to collect clams? I saw quite a few people gathering clams under the torii at low tide when I was there.

Thank you
as much as I want to try getting some clams, we were out of time trying to cover all the tourist area in Miyajima and Hiroshima city.

I somehow missed the sakura-lined walk in Kyoto! That looks lovely, though I was there in late fall-early winter, so it wouldn't have looked as nice. As close as it was to me (about 2.5 hours by train), I only made it to Kyoto once, for a 1 day trip in which I hit all the main temples. For some reason, Kyoto was very unlucky for me... I tried to get there 6 times, failing each time for some reason, only succeeding on the 7th try. Sometimes it was nasty weather, sometimes another event came up at the last minute, sometimes I was sick... it was crazy! Each time I'd tell the Japanese teachers at my school "This weekend I'm finally going to make it to Kyoto!", and each time, Monday morning "Nope, something stopped me again..." Well, at least I made it 1 time, and it was very nice.

that's too bad.. maybe this year you would be lucky
u mean the Philospher's path? when we went there it was not yet fully bloomed but still pretty ..
2.5 hours, so you live in wakayama area ??
i live just 30-40 minutes away from kyoto, i don't know how many times ive been to kyoto.. every time my friends come and visit osaka.. they always wants to go to kyoto and Im usually the tour guide

i'll be posting more pictures soon.. come and visit again

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by samokan

Thank you
as much as I want to try getting some clams, we were out of time trying to cover all the tourist area in Miyajima and Hiroshima city.



that's too bad.. maybe this year you would be lucky
u mean the Philospher's path? when we went there it was not yet fully bloomed but still pretty ..
2.5 hours, so you live in wakayama area ??
i live just 30-40 minutes away from kyoto, i don't know how many times ive been to kyoto.. every time my friends come and visit osaka.. they always wants to go to kyoto and Im usually the tour guide

i'll be posting more pictures soon.. come and visit again

Yes, I lived in Wakayama-ken, Hashimoto-shi to be exact. If you take the Nankai-Koya line south from Namba station in Osaka, you'd arrive in Hashimoto in 50 minutes... it's the last decent sized city (55,000) before the train begins climbing Mt Koya. It is right up in the very northeastern corner of Wakayama-ken, 1o minutes south of Osaka-fu and 5 minutes west of Gojo City in Nara-ken.

By the way, if you've never been to Koya-san, you really should go, it is a beautiful and historical place. It has the oldest and most famous cemetery in all of Japan, and it has 103 Buddhist temples on top of the mountain (you can actually sleep overnight in some of them, which I did!) Kobo Daishi, the Buddhist monk who invented Hiragana, lived on Koya-san, and one of the major Japanese sects of Buddhism is based there. If you like the temples in Kyoto, I think you'll love seeing the cemetery and temples on Koya-san.

By the way, I won't be making it to Kyoto this year... as my signature says, I was in Japan on the JET Program from 1996-98... I've been back in the US for 10 years now, though I still fondly remember and cherish my 2 years in Japan. I'd love to go back for a visit again someday. The 1996 date stamp on the Osaka photos I posted weren't an error, that's actually when I was there!

[samokan]

Originally Posted by samurai007

Yes, I lived in Wakayama-ken, Hashimoto-shi to be exact. If you take the Nankai-Koya line south from Namba station in Osaka, you'd arrive in Hashimoto in 50 minutes... it's the last decent sized city (55,000) before the train begins climbing Mt Koya. It is right up in the very northeastern corner of Wakayama-ken, 1o minutes south of Osaka-fu and 5 minutes west of Gojo City in Nara-ken.

By the way, if you've never been to Koya-san, you really should go, it is a beautiful and historical place. It has the oldest and most famous cemetery in all of Japan, and it has 103 Buddhist temples on top of the mountain (you can actually sleep overnight in some of them, which I did!) Kobo Daishi, the Buddhist monk who invented Hiragana, lived on Koya-san, and one of the major Japanese sects of Buddhism is based there. If you like the temples in Kyoto, I think you'll love seeing the cemetery and temples on Koya-san.

By the way, I won't be making it to Kyoto this year... as my signature says, I was in Japan on the JET Program from 1996-98... I've been back in the US for 10 years now, though I still fondly remember and cherish my 2 years in Japan. I'd love to go back for a visit again someday. The 1996 date stamp on the Osaka photos I posted weren't an error, that's actually when I was there!

oh I though you are still in wakayama right now ..

no ive not been to koya-san yet.. been meaning to for a couple of times. they have this one day ticket to wakayama for 2000yen every year , hopefully i can get one this year

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by samokan

oh I though you are still in wakayama right now ..

no ive not been to koya-san yet.. been meaning to for a couple of times. they have this one day ticket to wakayama for 2000yen every year , hopefully i can get one this year

I hope you get it, and if so, tell us how you like Koya-san!

Also, there is the Nankai-koya line that heads directly south from Namba station, and then there is a train line that goes to Wakayama City, southwest of Osaka. You want the former, not the latter... Wakayama City is along the coast, a good 75 minutes from Hashimoto and the Koya line, as you can see here:

[samokan]

Originally Posted by samurai007

I hope you get it, and if so, tell us how you like Koya-san!

Also, there is the Nankai-koya line that heads directly south from Namba station, and then there is a train line that goes to Wakayama City, southwest of Osaka. You want the former, not the latter... Wakayama City is along the coast, a good 75 minutes from Hashimoto and the Koya line, as you can see here:

http://www.pref.wakayama.lg.jp/engli.../img/map_s.gif

I was actually in wakayama last year ( early spring), my friends and I went strawberry picking there. I wanted to go the the mountain area, but it was really raining all day we decided against it cause it might be so cold so we just went around the city looking for the best ramen house, before heading back to Osaka..

besides koya-san, I want to stay in the temple and join the monks in their early morning prayer, that would be interesting, then maybe visit shirahama after ..

yeah i sure will blog about it .. and of course pictures..

[Pinoko]

I like Tokyu Hands. The shop is really amazing!! Lots of funny goods there. I like to see several costumes in the shop.

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by samokan

I was actually in wakayama last year ( early spring), my friends and I went strawberry picking there. I wanted to go the the mountain area, but it was really raining all day we decided against it cause it might be so cold so we just went around the city looking for the best ramen house, before heading back to Osaka..

besides koya-san, I want to stay in the temple and join the monks in their early morning prayer, that would be interesting, then maybe visit shirahama after ..

yeah i sure will blog about it .. and of course pictures..

Cool! I can give you a lot of info on all parts of Wakayama-ken (though it's 10 years old, not much changes in inaka...). When I was there, there was a JET ALT who actually lived on top of Koya-san and taught at the schools there. He was given an entire house, rent free (the sweetest deal in the ken!), but he was somewhat isolated up there, and the cable car stopped running at about 8 or 9 PM, long before most other trains stopped, and early enough that he had to have a place to stay off the mountain if he wanted to stay very long at parties and get-togethers. Since Hashimoto was the "gateway to Koya-san", he usually stayed at one of our apartments on those nights (there were 3 of us ALTs in 1 apartment complex about 3 blocks from the train station). And several times when we went up to Koya-san, we stayed at his place. (We once crammed 15 people into his 2 6-tatami rooms!) You may want to try and contact the current ALT on Koya-san to help you arrange your stay, show you around, etc.

Here are some pictures from my trips to Koya-san:



The 1st picture is looking back down the mountain after getting off the cable car (which is run by JR and included in the price of the train ticket)

The 2nd shot is the bridge at the entrance to the cemetery.

The 3rd is from the O-bon festival, when the whole cemetery is lit with candles and torches, and a massive burning bundle of bamboo is carried through the cemetery. (If you can make it there for O-bon, it's quite a sight to see!)

The 4th is a series of statues in the cemetery.



More shots of the cemetery, showing the beautiful old statues, toriis, and stonework set against the natural forest. We walked it early in the morning, when the mist was just burning off and the sun rising, probably the best time to go!



More shots from the cemetery (and this is only a fraction of the many shots I took!), notice the more modern headstones including the astronaut's tomb with a rocket on top, and the temple we stayed at overnight is on the lower right. At lower left, you can see the Buddhist monk serving our meal (which was entirely vegetarian, and exactly the same meal the monks eat).



Since you mentioned Shirahama as well, this set of pictures is from my trip there. Shirahama is famous for its white sand beach and the arch rock just offshore. We actually slept on the beach overnight (It was a warm summer night)!

Let me know if you want to see more pictures or get more info on places in Wakayama! Other interesting places to visit are Nachi Falls (the tallest waterfall in all of Japan) and Taiji, a whaling village that has a whaling museum , etc.