Glico man - the symbol of Osaka! This is the logo of a candy company... if you eat their candy, you are supposed to be able to run fast like him!
Osaka is the 3rd largest city in Japan. About 4 million people in the city, and 18 million people including the surrounding area.
Boat ride through the river and canal. A great way to see the city!
Osaka Castle.
Sanjusangen-do. This long temple housed over 1000 Buddha statues. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside the temple... but I copied some pictures from the internet so that you can see.....
1000 Golden Buddha statues. Made out of wood and painted with gold lacquer.
Giant Buddha in the middle. He separated 500 golden Buddhas on each side.
God of Wind. It was Joe's favorite, he even bought a t-shirt :)
Kiyomizu-dera. This temple and surrounding area is one of Kyoto's defining sights. This picture is of the main entrance.
Temple bell overlooking the city.
3-story pagoda.
Maki is one of Jenny's friends. They met in Spain studying abroad, and are both fluent in Spanish. Maki is Japanese and was nice enough to take us on a tour of Kyoto. Maki would explain something to Jenny in Spanish, and then Jenny would translate to English.
Pretend Geisha. These women dressed up in Geisha outfits to take pictures with tourists.
Muruyama-koen. This temple was near our hotel downtown. This picture is of the main entrance.
The temple.
There was a wedding at the temple: groom on the left in black, bride beside him.
Kinkaku-ji. The famous temple of the Golden Pavilion. It's surrounded by Mirror Pond, which makes for an awesome picture with the reflection! This was originally built as a retirement villa in 1358 but was converted into a Zen temple after his death. The 1st floor is palace-style, the 2nd floor is samurai-style, and the 3rd floor is Zen temple style.
To-ji. This is a 5-storey pagoda, Japan's tallest! Founded in 794.
We've been told that if you cheat and put things into the wrong bag, your trash will be returned to you and you will have to separate it out. I have a friend that this has happened to, so it really does happen. That would be a pretty disgusting task, so let's hope that doesn't happen to us! Also, you can't put milk cartons into any of the 9 categories.... you have to cut the carton a specific way, and then return them to the store.
I put a water bottle inside for scale. As you can see, it's pretty small - we definitely won't be cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving. But what's interesting about this appliance is that it is a microwave, oven, grill, and steamer all in one! I've used the oven and grill functions so far - and the chicken turned out great both times!
This is washer AND dryer in one. There are different settings depending on if you just want to wash or dry, or do both in one cycle. Notice all the sticky labels on every single button!! (A big thank you to our relocation gal for writing English on all of our appliances!!) The only downfall is that if you do a combo wash and dry cycle, it takes about 4 hours to complete. So I've just been washing clothes and then hanging them in our shower room to dry. Shower rooms in Japan are pretty awesome - not only are they huge, but they have a dryer function! So you just hang your clothes up and click the dry button, and they're done within an hour! Also, people in Japan only use cold water to wash clothes. Apparently hot water is very expensive here.
I thought you would get a kick out of seeing the remotes... especially because of all the English sticky tabs. The one on the right is for the lights and the one on the left is for the heater and air-conditioner (again, both heat and air-conditioning in one unit). So we have multiple remotes for every room! It can be very confusing, but we're getting the hang of it! Hopefully someday we'll be able to remove all the stickies from all of our appliances. :)
Seder Dinner in South Haven at my Grandparent's church.
Opening day of OBERON!
Brewster's with my family!
Roadtrip to Detroit with Kitty to see Jenny!
Cupcakes with my favorite niece :)
Spending time with my wonderful sister-in-laws!
Hanging out with Emma, Scotty & Rover
Wedding with Mom & Dad "S"
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. VerHeul!!
This is Tsurumai Park - only a few subway stops away from our new apartment. I would compare the viewing of the cherry blossom trees in Japan to the U.S. 4th of July festivities or tailgating for a football game. See pictures below...
People camp out under the sakura trees. Each party puts down a blue tarp under a tree to "reserve" their spot. Just like we do in the U.S. for watching the 4th of July fireworks or tailgating for a football game - the earlier you go, the better spot you get! And of course, people stock up on beer... as they hang out under the trees all day.
Vendors line the streets to supply people with more food and drinks. This way, they only have to step a few feet away from their reserved tree. Very neat atmosphere!
Fish on a stick, anyone!? This is what one vendor was selling.
The park was actually quite big for being near the city. It had a few small ponds and trails.
Close up! :)
Next we headed a little further away from the city to a canal area filled with Sakura trees on both sides. There are trail on both sides of the canal to walk on. It's a couple miles long, and absolutely beautiful!
Walking on the trail by the canal.
Week 2 - Moribana style
Week 3 - freestyle!
