Japan Day 5

Day 5 of #rjapantravelog.

From Osaka (yes Osaka, not Kobe), we went 300 kms north to Kanazawa. Unfortunately, the sky was still gloomy.

Bridge in front of Kanazawa Temple.

Now I remember the main reason why we went to Kanazawa was to try the brand new route of Shinkansen #soimportant. Our friend @dianamelina suggested that we should try it :p

Thankfully, wiki said in Kanazawa,
there's a park named Kenroku-en, which is one of the three great gardens in Japan. At least there was an object to visit xD.

Kenroku-en (兼六園, Six Attributes Garden), located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is an old private garden.

The garden is located outside the gates of Kanazawa Castle where it originally formed the outer garden, and covers 114,436.65 m² /wiki

Crossing the bridge

This is the shooting place of "Assalamu'alaikum Kanazawa". However, a tech glitch made all the photos were wiped out. Cc: @awl88 @vickynugraha @putripl .

Statue of Yamato Takeru -originally Prince Ōsu-, was a Japanese legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō, who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan.

Kotoji-tōrō, a stone lantern with two legs, said to resemble the bridge on a koto. This lantern is emblematic of Kenrokuen and Kanazawa.

Koto (Japanese: 箏) is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument. Mirip alat musik kecapi tampaknya

My IG #1500

Apparently, the name of the bridge is: hanami-bashi aka flower-viewing bridge. That time, the name really represents the situation.

Castle above sakura

Japan Day 3 - Part 2

Back to Day-3 of #rjapantravelog. The weather was so nice that day.

Kiyomizudera (清水寺, literally "Pure Water Temple") is one of the most celebrated temples of Japan. It was founded in 780 on the site of the Otowa Waterfall in the wooded hills east of Kyoto, and derives its name from the fall's pure waters. \wiki

The temple’s colorful bell tower was constructed in 1596. If you look closer, you can see beautiful chrysanthemum flowers carved above the fly brace of the tower. .
The bell tower was restored in 1999, when the beautiful vermillion color was enhanced.

Though in the past these sorts of bells were used to direct the monks during the day, now it’s most famously rung on New Year’s Eve, when the bell is rung 108 times to symbolize the 108 earthly desires Buddhism acknowledges must be overcome.

Kiyomizudera was named for the pure water that flows from the Otowa no Taki waterfall, with kiyomizu from the temple's name translating to “pure water”.

It is said that this water possesses the power to extend one’s life and fulfill one’s wishes, and you can take a long-handled ladle and drink from one of the channels yourself.|wiki

Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) is a Zen temple along Kyoto's eastern mountains (Higashiyama). In 1482, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built his retirement villa on the grounds of today's temple, modeling it after Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), his grandfather's retirement villa at the base of Kyoto's northern mountains (Kitayama).

Despite its name, the Silver Pavilion was never covered in silver. Instead, it is believed that the name arose as a nickname more than a century after the building's construction to contrast it with the Golden Pavilion.

Alternatively, it is explained that moon light reflecting on the building's dark exterior (which used to be covered in black lacquer in the past) gave it a silvery appearance.

A meticulously maintained dry sand garden, known as the "Sea of Silver Sand" (Ginshadan). In the edge the garden, there's a massive sand cone named "Moon Viewing Platform"

Tossing coins for good luck! I'm wondering whether the officers collect the coins from the pond in regular basis.

Silk-like moss garden

Among the trees

In my opinion, this place is very enchanting even it's uber crowded at that time.

Philosopher's Walk - A cherry tree lined canal that stretches from Nanzenji to Ginkakuji.

The route is so-named because the influential 20th-century Japanese philosopher and Kyoto University professor Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation. |wiki

Kinkakuji (金閣寺, Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf.

Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. /wiki.

Japan Day 3

Day 3 or #rjapantravelog.

That day, from Osaka we headed to Kyoto. We didn't spend any night in Kyoto due to fully booked accommodation. It's that full! .
Our friends from Tokyo also joined the trip today. With their fluent Japanese lang, I was sure that the day would be easy. The sky seemed agree with me.

First destination in Kyoto was Kiyomizudera. The red structure in this pic is Niomon.

Niōmon is the Japanese name of a Buddhist temple gate guarded by two wooden warriors called Niō (lit. Two Kings). | wiki

Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Realizing that the 3rd day of #rjapantravelog was the only day of that trip with nice weather, so let's skip that day, and move to the 4th day. Lol.

Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. | wiki

In the pic: the shrine's entrance, where behind it stands the Romon Gate, which was donated in 1589 by the famous leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Behind stands the shrine's main building (Honden) and various auxiliary buildings.

We could easily find fox sculpture in this site.

Inari's foxes, or kitsune, are pure white and act as Inari's messengers.

What is Inari? Inari Ōkami is the Japanese god of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success. / Wiki

The torii-gate (traditional Japanese gate, the orange one) covered hiking trail in this place, is started with two dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates").

The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. (yes, those small writings that most of you cant read)

The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.

The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters.

The hike to the summit of the mountain and back takes about 2-3 hours. However, due to time constraint, we didn't go to the summit.

A Torii.

A torii (literally bird abode) is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred.

The presence of a torii at the entrance is usually the simplest way to identify Shinto shrines./wiki

As mentioned before, this shrine is the central location for some 40,000 Inari shrines throughout the entirety of Japan. .

Anyway, I'm wondering whether this is sakura or not?

From Fushimi Inari-Taisha, we headed to Arashiyama to view the beautiful Bamboo Grove.

Actually, there's a temple nearby but we didn't go there due to bad weather. (males euy ujan2an).

BTS of Arashiyama pic: drizzle and super crowded path, ... and electricity cables.

A couple of years ago the Ministry of Environment even put the Bamboo Forest on its list of “100 Soundscapes of Japan” – a list of everyday noises/sounds intended to encourage locals to stop and enjoy nature’s music./wiki

However, difficult to hear that nature's sound if it's this crowded 😅

From Arashiyama, then we went to Kobe, which is around 80 km away. Why? Because we could 😂. So, basically we had JR Pass Ticket that we could utilize, and we used it to the fullest.

The city light was pretty mesmerizing.

It's not that often that I could see tulip in Indonesia (atau emang gak ada? :p). But apparently this flower could be found in random places in Japan. Okay, not that random actually.

View at Kobe Bay -

Besides dinner, we actually had nothing to do in Kobe, so we enjoyed the view in a freezing cold weather (for me).

Btw, 99% photos in this #rjapantravelog are not taken using iPhone. Need to clarify this due to what I state in my IG profile :).

Japan Day 2

Day 2 of #rjapantravelog.

We spent the day in Osaka. It was still a cloudy day. Bet the view would be much better with blue sky.

Hanami on the riverside

Gokurakubashi Bridge - a bridge across the Inner Moat of Osaka Castle.

Osaka Castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks. It was built in 1583.

The basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. Toyotomi wanted to build a castle that mirrored Oda's, but surpassed it in every way: the plan featured a five-story main tower, with three extra stories underground, and gold leaf on the sides of the tower to impress visitors. |wiki

Sakura Rain - if you look closer.

And if you look at the previous photo, the trees were leafless/flowerless. Basically it's due to the strong wind that occurred in the past few days.

I don't know what this is for.. Is it for, ummmm, ablution?

@sitamanda said that this is for Shinto-style ablution.

Wiki: Water-filled basins, called chōzubachi, are used by worshippers for washing their left hands, right hands, mouth and finally the handle of the water ladle to purify themselves before approaching the main Shinto shrine or shaden.

Diorama/miniature inside Osaka Castle

The castle tower is now entirely modern on the inside and even features an elevator for easier accessibility. It houses an informative museum about the castle's history and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Who is Toyotomi Hideyoshi? He was a preeminent daimyo, warrior, general, samurai, and politician of the Sengoku period who is regarded as Japan's second "great unifier". | wiki

City view from the top of Osaka Castle.

Sorry for spamming you with the pics. Wanna finish posting pics with grey sky really soon, so I can move forward to next ones.

From the roof of Osaka Castle. Okay, it's like being inside a cage from this side of the roof. .

such a chic hole cover plate

Ferris wheel.
From Osaka Castle, we went to Osaka Aquarium? Why there's a ferris wheel? Idk. Anyway, it wasn't operating that time due to bad weather.

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and Tempozan Ferris Wheel.

You know what? The wheel has colored lights that provide a weather forecast for the next day. Orange lights indicate a sunny day, green lights a cloudy day and blue lights indicate rain.

Pretty cool, isn't it? *baru tau abis baca wiki*

Another fact:
Akashi Kaikyo Bridge has the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world! It's 600m longer than SF's Golden Gate Bridge.

Whale Shark in Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.

Wiki says that whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving filter feeding shark and the largest known extant fish species.

The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan is one of the largest public aquariums in the world. .
However, I'm not that impressed. I love the one in Singapore better.

Glico Man in Dotonbori - one of the most famous landmarks in the area. Originally installed in 1935, the sign depicting a giant athlete on a blue track, which is a symbol of Glico candy.

Dōtonbori is one of the principal tourist destinations in Osaka. Historically a theater district, it is now a popular nightlife and entertainment area characterized by its eccentric atmosphere and large illuminated signboards. |wiki

Until now, I don't know why this thing is so famous.

Kani Doraku Crab - this six and a half meter crab, built in 1960, is on the front of the crab restaurant Kani Dōraku. It is mechanised, being able to move its arms and eyestalks. .
For this one, I also don't understand why it could be so famous. Perhaps because it's been there for decades? .