Temples and Osaka at Night

So after returning to the Hostel and napping/relaxing/recharging for about an hour and a half we set out onto the streets of Osaka again. Nearby is a very famous temple known as the Sensoji Temple. We decided to put what daylight we had left to good use and go and visit the temple.

So we set out onto the streets of Osaka and began to explore in the general direction in which we believed the temple was...

Eventually, we came across a line of shops leading up to the Temple. We knew it by the famous giant lantern hanging in the distance. The shops had all kinds of things, kimono's for festivals, food, and really touristie things as well. We didn't buy anything... though the chocolate covered Bannanas cought our eyes...

The stalls went all the way up to the temple, and turned into traditional looking vendors with all kinds of food right by the temple. Being Silver Week (the week with so many holidays) we ran across a few people dressed in Yukatas (summer kimonos). Many Japanese people seemed to be going to the Temple to pray, there was likely something we missed.

Me in front of the main gate before the temple. Yes, this is just the main gate, not the temple iteself! Unfortunately though the Main Building is undergoing rennovations, and I couldn't get any pictures, only lovely "Pardon our dust" tarp.

Even though the main building was under rennovations, we still walked around the grounds and took pictures of the other structures.

I have more pictures, I'll likely post them and more from this trip in a later post. We decided to leave the temple area and wander a bit, to get the lay of the land. I came across this...

I have to admit, I was tempted to buy it... It's a bit funny, espically seeing it in Japan. We continued walking and passed a lot of shops. Jennay and I have both agreed we're trying to save money by not eating out, so we're buying from supermarkets, and snacks from 100 yen stores. Every now and then we'll eat out, but we both agreed we'd rather spend the money on other things!

We did pass this one restraunt though:

It looked like a small temple in and of itself, with large statues of cows, three in total. It must have been very very swanky inside. It's the temple of the Cow...

We also ran across this:

Yes, that is a giant add for something featuring a princess in a kimono and a ninja, riding on a panda. I don't know what it's for, but I'd buy that product!

We walked around a little more and ran into an arcade. I posted a video (mainly for Jeff, so check it, you'll see why!!!) to my youtube of an arcade game. Goes to show you how awesome arcades are in Japan.

At around 7:30 we trecked back to the Hostel. I ate a little, but I'm still full from lunch, so I put my food in the fridge. The place is really nice, free wi-fi, TV, full kitchen, shower, toilet, (each locking obviously), it's really not a bad set up. I changed my room for two of the nights to be in a cabin room. The bunk room is okay, but I got the short straw and got three guys. I checked them all out, none of them tickled my "creeper" meter. In fact they've all been very respectful of my space, if not I would've demanded a new room no matter the cost. The cabin room will be something I can lock, and it shows me two sides to the hostel life! I'll be fine though, if I feel the least bit uncomftorable I'll get out of here, I'm not going to push it.

I'm absoutely exhausted though, I feel like I could sleep for three days. Tomorrow we're going to Harujuku, the cosplay area of town. Then I think we're headed to Odaiba the futuristic area of town to see the architecture, Jennay wants to go to a big shopping mall, to see the Rainbow Bridge and the Gundam in the day and night. I'll keep you all posted.

As always, love and miss you all!

P.S.

Mom and Dad, I should be up around 8:30-9:00am tomorrow my time, if you want to plan on skyping around that time. Maybe even earlier.