Landed in Osaka and gee am I tired! Japan was always going to be a challenge as my itinerary was basically to do everything myself bar one day I have a guide in Kyoto. Landing in Kansai International airport was the first challenge, and prior to the trip I asked the hotel if there was any shuttle from the airport to the hotel as everyone knows Japan taxi's are not the cheapest in the world.
Followed my instructions that were provided to me by the hotel and the first thing was to jump on the JR, which is the train system. Make sure I was heading in the right direction I ended up in Osaka Station. This took approximately 50 minutes. Just my luck I had missed the last shuttle bus from Osaka Station to the hotel, so my options were taxi or walk. The hotel concierge noted to me that the taxi ride would be around 1000 yen and lucky enough for me the 10min cab ride cost me under the 1000 yen probably because of the lack of traffic.
Too tired to do anything I chomped on some moon cake a friend gave me in HK and crashed out hoping to get on to an early start.
Still waking up as though I'm still in Sydney and ready for work, but after re-evaluating my plans and then asking the concierge what the best plan of attack was for my day I did not get out till about 11am. The concierge was most helpful and she was pretty spot on, to get from A to B to C to D to E and then back to A.
So first stop was Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum. For those who don't know Osamu-san was the creator of Astro Boy. A popular cartoon that I grew up watching before going to school and watching after school (obviously after home work.. not!) This was a 40min JR ride according to the information provided to me. From that point it was another 10min walk and it was getting warmer by the minute. I made it to the museum. The museum in short is not really geared to foreigners as it is all in Japanese. Apart from some labels under some drawings and the DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS for some displays. There are many drawings and a few statues of the famous characters Osamu-san created. I would say it would be for die hards only, but I would not call myself a die hard but was intrigued to see it and although I expected more I must have been satisfied as I spent well over 1.5 hours walking through the 3 levels of the museum. Each level is not very large and probably the size of no more than 100 square meters.
The main entry to Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum
What else to expect but the first thing you see when walking is Astro Boy
Astro is even on the ceiling
On my way out I could not resist but have a laugh after inspecting Dr Elephants hand, feet nose print in the ground !
After picking up a few souvenirs from Osamu Tezuka's museum it was off to the next station. Lets roll, back up to the JR station and off to see the Osaka Castle
Check out today's ride
Getting off the JR, I had to probably walk around 10-15 minutes to find the castle. You would think the castle is easy to spot but there are trees everywhere from afar to obscure the Osaka Castle. Maybe it was just the direction I had walked in? There was a lot of things happening around the vicinity of the castle. It looked like a school festival of some sort and there were many teenage kids performing by dance and musical instruments which all created a great vibe around the area.
Cosplay must be their theme for their performance?
Finally I spot Osaka Castle from behind
The view from above Osaka Castle
Take the walk up the 8 floors and you will be up at the top before you get your elevator ride
The view from the front of Osaka Castle
Peace to you too !! She is obviously is enjoying the occassion
Time to leave Osaka Castle for my next destination. The sun's heat is getting to me and it just feels warmer and warmer every minute I walk back to the JR station
Next stop Tempozan Ferris Wheel. Hoping my timing is right for sunset and then to see the ferris wheel lit up. At one stage research indicates that this was the biggest ferris wheel in the world but it is no longer !!
Clouds have set in after my ride around the ferris wheel, the lights are just appearing
The beautiful view overseeing the ocean during sunset before the clouds rolled in
I forgot to have a bite for lunch and within the Tempozan Harbor village there was a food court.. quick bite of ramen knowing that the clouds were rolling in I could not wait for a fully lit ferris wheel and it's time to jump on the JR again.
Next stop Dotonbori. Living in Sydney the Coca Cola sign at Kings Cross is one of the main tourist attraction. Osaka has it's own in Dotonbori which has the Glico man. Hoping the weather is kind to me so I can walk along the canal and take pics of Mr Glico, I make my way to Dotonbori.
Made it to Dotonbori, but I do not see no Glico man
Taking a stroll down the canal allows you to absorb the atmosphere, entertainment on the canal
Found it, Glico man is running along just fine.. Don't ask about the advert on the right
The more exciting side of the canal
That's a wrap, made it through the day and got to do what I wanted. Clocked well over 25kms of walking, it was time to head back to the hotel as the restaurants I wanted to try here were full.
Managed to grab some Wagyu beef and a quiet beer next to my hotel. Need to crash out as a big day ahead.
Wake up early enough to get ready for my big day. Off to Tokyo with my shinkansen ticket. Shinkansen is better known as Japan's bullet train. It's about 28,500 yen to get from Shin Osaka Station to Tokyo station and back. The ride takes about 3 hours one way. Why you may ask am I going to Tokyo? Well it just happens that a Sumo tournament is on and these things don't happen every week. There are a handful of tournaments a year and I was not going to miss my chance to see Sumo. I get to Shin Osaka station nice and early. It is a different train station to Osaka, and accommodates the shinkansen. I make sure I am on the right platform and ready to catch my train. i have about 40 minutes to kill but do not want to take any risks. Once I get to Tokyo I need to then get to Ryogoku, this is where the Sumo stadium is.
My bullet train finally pulls up. These things are generally on time and mine was
Sumo's generally make their own way to the stadium, this one is getting last minute tips on the phone
I gather these two are stable mates ?
Someone needs to tell him he will standout even without the orange bag !
Just some photography info. I figured it would be way to heavy to bring the Canon 1Dx with me to Japan. I brought my beloved Fuji X Pro 1 with me and decided to invest in the Fuji XC 50-230mm lens. This does not have an aperture ring and I shot all my shots at 1/1000@f6.0 at around the 200mm range in ISO 6400.
Trying to get my bearings right. Actually oops I'm in the wrong seat watching this lower grade Sumo bout
I finally found my seat for my 8500 yen seat. It was on the top tier and 3 row from the front of the top tier. There are typically only two tiers in the Sumo stadiums. The first tier are where people sit on cushions in boxes that can sit four people, the rich tend to get these as they can easily be over 1000USD. Some people just buy the box and sit two people so they can have the room to stretch.
I had to wait till 3:40pm till the top division Sumo's come out and boy do they make a grand entrance. Known as the Makuuchi division.
Each Sumo is introduced one at a time to enter the ring
Face off
Hallelujah !!
The Yokozuna, Hakuho, who holds the top billing and number one ranking apparently has injured his knee in the lead up to the tournament. Hakuho will still participate today. Double thumbs up. He had a shock loss yesterday. What will he come up with today, will he redeem himself?
Low ranked Yoshikaze eyes off Yokozuna Hakuho in the prematch warm up ritual
Yoshikaza manages to get Yokozuna Hakuho off balance
Gracious in defeat? I do not think so
After the shock defeat Yokozuna Hakuho retires from the tournament due a knee injury. What a shame. During his defeat it is traditional for the crowd to protest. It is quite a scene, you start seeing the expensive ticket holders on the bottom tier throw their cushions towards the ring in protest. The crowd do not get ejected which makes it more entertaining. This certainly was a highlight and I will leave you with a few more pics, of this amazing sporting event. I did learn one thing, it is not all about how big you are, or how strong you are there are a lot of tactics to use your weight or your opponents weight to win you the bout. Which makes it a very interesting spectacle.
It is tradition to throw rice in to the ring before stepping in
With so much rice being thrown in the ring gets a clean up during an interval between bouts
Slapping is not always on the agenda of the wrestlers
No ringside girls here, just men with advertisements
Get outta there!!!
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Revving up the crowd the Sumo is getting impatient with is opponents time wasting
Who lost here ?
Who's your daddy now ?
Well that was a fun day !!! Bucket list - See Sumo Wrestling live ... CHECK !!!
Caught up with an old friend of mine for dinner and a beer and then it's back on the shinakansen back home. I think I needed a coffee more than a beer to keep awake but I managed to do so. Got back to the hotel and freshened up and got ready for bed. Another big day ahead.
Once again I need to find my way around Japan. This time it is time to move away from my Osaka base and relocate myself to Arashiyama. Arashiyama is north of Osaka and it is back on the JR. I need to go to Kyoto then change trains for Arashiyama. This all sounds easy but you just know you are bound to fail. I feel pretty confident with myself on the JR but then I always find a stumbling block where I don't see any English and need to ask the friendly locals but usually my luck is the first person I ask does not speak English :(
OK, so check out of my hotel from Osaka and make my way to Osaka Station via the courtesy shuttle. I make my way to Arashiyama in good time and well too good a time since check in at 4pm. I do not normally name names where I am staying but this place is just the best if you want to try staying in a traditional Ryokan. It can cost a lot but it is well worth it. You get a 13 course dinner !!! a complimentary welcoming snack which is not really a snack and a traditional Japanese breakfast is also included since you are suffering because you will need to sleep on the floor tonight. I was lucky enough to have my own private onsen that has a view out to the garden. How awesome is this ryokan. It is called Arashiyama Benkei.
Arashiyam Benkei
Alrighty since I cannot check in to see my room, I decide to follow my original planned itinerary. First stop is Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple. I chose this temple because it had something different. It was a 40 minute walk from where my lodging was. I decided to grab some lunch before heading up and went for Udon. It was a quick bite and going through the area I noticed LOTS of tourists dressed in kimono outfits. Many of the tourists are Japanese students who are on excursion to absorb their own culture. So after walking my way up the hill I hit the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple.
Tourists in Kimono attire
Traditional house in Arashiyama
Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple
There are literally a 1000 of these tiny unique statues. No statue is the same. Reminds me of Jeju
Not quite a Jedi Master
A view from above
After viewing the temple I decide to go to one of the main attractions and that is the Bamboo forrest. The forrest is a site to be seen with your own eyes if you are in the area in my opinion. The walk Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple to the forrest was about 20minutes. The stretch of the bamboo forrest is only about 750 meters, which is unfortunate.
There are many temples in Arashiyama. I popped in to this one on the way back to my lodging
Praying for black hair ?
True believers
There are lots of things to do and the food is pretty good in Arashiyama, don't forget to stop for your green tea ice cream. YUMMMMMMM !!
Heading back to my ryokan stay I took in the lake view which is outside the ryokan. It was sunset time but unfortunately the clouds have set in. I think I've used those same words previously on this trip so far!!
You can rent a boat and row or I am sure you can fish in the river
Since I am so impressed by this ryokan I am going to leave some photos here, just in case you are curious as to what one looks like.
Working desk on the top of tatami mats and a chair with no legs
The table more for westerners who can not fold their legs like me. The complimentary welcoming snack is on the table
Don't be fooled by the first two chairs. The big white one counts. It is an Omron massage chair :)
... and I had my own Onsen to peer out to the Japanese garden.
And that is my bed. Futon on Tatami mat
After a great nights sleep and wondering if spiders would crawl on me... just a joke, it is time to leave Arashiyama Benkei and well today I have my own private tour guide to take me around Kyoto and what a pleasant surprise I got. Instead of being picked up in a Toyota or a Nissan, I got up graded to be picked up in a BMW 7 series long wheelbase and gee did it have some major leg room at the back!
Receiving the traditional farewell. If I ever come again this is the place to stay!
My driver came early and loaded my bag in to the boot and off we went. First stop was Ryoan-ji temple. The temple hosts a garden known for its perfection, well apparently almost perfect garden. I can only remember that you are supposed to be able to count 15 rocks but most only see 14 as 15 in Japanese culture means perfection. Ryoan-ji temple was a short drive from Arashiyama.
You will be at peace when relaxing and observing the Ryoan-ji temple Zen garden
This temple is full of peaceful views, the lotus pond view
After absorbing all the peaceful views it is time to move on to the next magical location, the world heritage listed Golden Pavilion. Take note the pavilion is not the original it was actually reconstructed because someone had burnt it down in 1950. It is probably the most well known or seen feature in Kyoto and features in pretty much every tour of Kyoto. I was a little unfortunate with the weather, grey clouds and rain but the show must go on.
Kinkaku-ji, 'Temple of the Golden Pavilion'
A garden within the confines of the Golden Pavilion
The crowds were large even with the rain and if my guide and I were not careful we probably would lose an eye from the umbrellas so we decided to move on. Due to the short stay my driver took me to Daitokuji, many Zen gardens and small temples are found.
One of the more known Ryogenin Zen gardens
A small sub temple in the grounds.
Decided to have a quick bite for lunch. To get to this point after a 10:30am start It was now around 1pm.
We scoffed some Ramen down and that was the choice of cuisine I chose and the driver gladly took me to a local Ramen restaurant.
Now it was off to Nijo Castle. Where shogun stayed and the unique part of the castle was teh creaky floors. This was deliberate so that ninja intruders would be heard if they decided to try and assassinate Shogun.
Nijo Castle's main entry
This pond is impressive with it's own waterfall and these massive huge rocks standout.
I wonder if this is the side where the concubines are kept?
If you were a worker for Shogun, this is the view you have of the garden.
Off we go ... Kiyomizu temple here we come. Something new that I haven't been to before, and I was looking forward to seeing this man built structure that has a balcony that is 30 meters up from the ground and constructed with no nails just all wooden beams.
This is the entry to Kiyomizi-dera, with the bright pagoda on the right standing out
The deva gate
The 3 tiered pagoda
A panoramic view of Kyoto
Torii of Jishu-jinja, a matchmaking shrine is within the grounds of Kiyomizu-dera.
A young Japanese girl attempting to walk the 20 paces to make sure her wedding wish comes true. Let's just hope she is just practicing. This is found in the matching making shrine
Kiyomizu-dera. The balcony structure is pretty amazing. Trust me its not flat and it kind of leans. It is not a pleasant feeling not one for the faint hearted to stand on the edge. Japan engineering!
And again we are off but not before we had a quick walk past Ninenzaka, which has an abundance of souvenir shops but I wasn't in the mood to shop but to see more things. This time to Inari shrine, this Shinto shrine was not in the original tour but because we were on time and had some time to spare I had requested we come here. It is another place I had never been to in my first time in Kyoto and any photographer would want a photo of all those red Torii
The entry to Inari shrine
Red torii along a path at the Fushimi Inari Shrine.
That's the end of the tour, I was asking if we could go to Gion but the driver told me that the time is up, and he would drive me to my hotel for the next two nights. It has been fun, again lots of walking. MK Taxi guide was superb even though it was a little more expensive than a normal tour but my guide/driver was great and he deserved his green tea ice cream !
Well it is pretty much my last full day here in Kyoto and my last full day of my holiday as I jet out midday and won't ave much time to get out and about. The forecast from the other night indicated the weather was going to be heavy rain. My original plan was to walk around with my Leica and take pics of the local scenery and do some street photography. Waking up it was not looking pleasant. Locked myself of my hotel room was not also a good start to the day.
Spoke to concierge to get my airport transfer organised and I was lucky as she said most companies need to have this booked two days in advance. After I managed to sneak a booking in I had asked what the best place would be to spot a Geisha. I was told the directions and headed to where the concierge had highlighted the streets. The rain was not making it easy and with a Leica pre focussing with different light as some alley ways were shaded and some were open whilst holding an umbrella was not so fun.
I headed to Hanami-koji-dori in Gion (the section between Shijo-dori and Kennin-ji Temple). I paced myself in vain hoping to see Geisha in the rain during the middle of the day with Leica in hand. With the rain not easing I was tossing up to pay around 35USD to see a Geisha tea ceremony where they would serve tea and dance, but that just did not seem right. So I headed with my tail in between my legs and walked towards Kyoto city just to see what shops were around to kill some time. Time I killed. I walked till about 5pm, by the time I got back to the hotel it 6pm. Freshened up and did some more research and one article said you may spot Geisha in Hanami-koji-dori around just after sunset. The sun had just set and I managed to run and make to the hotel's complimentary shuttle service, the service beats walking down to Gion. The rain had eased as I got off the bus but it was still sprinkling. Different form of attack and I brought my Fuji X Pro 1 with one lens the 23mm f/1.4 and was shooting wide open at ISO 6400. I knew I was going to get grainy shots but a grainy photo is better than no photo at all.
I felt like a paparazzi, stalking alley ways looking in side taxis and just simply keeping watch on everything. So here is my little adventure in pictures and captions of 'Chasing Geisha', and not the damn tourists wearing kimonos.
Alley ways off Hanami-koji-dori
Maybe Geisha will be in this taxi coming up ?
Looking the tea house that may have a Geisha
Losing hope in finding a Geisha in this wet evening
Found a Geisha, just left the tea house and in to the taxi, with an apprentice?
Saw this taxi drive past me, the running certainly helps
Shooting wide open at f/1.4 does not get me a sharp shot .. darn it !!
Fuji struggled, not the best pic but tells a great story
Found another Geisha on her way from one appointment to the next
Through one alley way
Not impressed that I've followed her down two alley ways
On her way to the tea house
Next time I will bring a camera to capture this scene and hopefully it will focus better. I did feel pretty treated waiting for some gangland protection men to pop out and beat me up but it didn't happen.
Happy and disappointing way to finish the trip. Saw a Geisha but the photos are disappointing !
Thanks for reading hope the above helps for anyone travelling to Taipei, Osaka and Kyoto
