Kobe

Building, ads, and park...taken near the train station in Sannomiya, Kobe.

Um...

...this doesn't look like Japan.


(King crabs...Osaka aquarium, taken last summer)

Birds

Another Osaka Castle picture from last winter. We took some good pictures then.


Birds on the roof of one of the gates leading to the castle grounds.

Castle Kitty!

Another picture from last winter, taken in the park around Osaka Castle.

Old vs New

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of Osaka Castle at night. Here's one from the day.


It's a close-up view. You can really only see the edge of the bottom of the corner of the castle walls...

I took this last winter, with Brian's camera. I liked the contrast between the old stone walls of the castle and the skyscraper in the background. And the tree. Trees are always good.

Trailside Temple

Taken by the side of a hiking trail on Koya-san last year.

Kyoto

The riverside in Kyoto...isn't it pretty?


Also - I made a mistake in yesterday's post! (Oh noes!)
A cookie for anyone who figures out what it was...

Awaji Island

Three more pictures from Awaji Island, taken last summer:

The first is from a pond at a shrine on the island.


The next two were taken at a harbor on the shore.



Apologies for the lack of picture yesterday...in my illness I forgot to post. I'm feeling better today :)

Osaka Castle at Night

Shiny!

Butterfly

...it's a huge metal butterfly!


There's a park near my school that has a butterfly museum. Or garden. Or whatever you call it. A big greenhouse-type building filled with butterflies.

I haven't actually gone inside yet, but I walked up to the entrance once and took a picture of their butterfly statue on the way.

Harbor

I hereby declare this "cool older pictures week"...'cause I have a cold and don't want to go out and take more pictures. And also because I have quite a few cool pictures that I could post.

Today - a harbor on Awaji Island, across from Kobe, which you can see in the distance.


Taken last summer on a trip with my school's photo club.

Temples

Looking at some of my older pictures, I realized that my blog is rather lacking in shrine and temple pictures. So here's one:


This was taken quite a while ago at a temple on Mt. Koya in Wakayama prefecture (an hour or two north--and slightly east--of here).

Stay out

I found this sign hanging on a doorway in Osaka Station today:


Here's a close-up:


"Stay out of here!"

They actually have them all over the place - it seems to be the standard "keep out" sign for the station.

My Desk

Can you spot the globe?


(It's peeking out from behind a blue paper bag in the top right corner.)

Ice Cucumber?

Yes. Ice cucumber pepsi. That's what it says.


It's actually pretty good :)

Artistic

Flowers and a chain link fence in the tiny playground by my apartment in the rain at dusk.


Artistic or just blurry? You decide.

Balanced Meal

The Japanese version of the food pyramid...it's a top! You have to eat enough of each food group or else it will fall over!


...I just realized that my title for this post is a horrible pun. That was actually unintentional.

Rain, rain...

We had thunderstorms off and on all weekend...look at that rain! You can actually see the raindrops cutting across the picture.


It was so heavy that for one picture, my camera auto-focused on the water drops covering my balcony door. I even got some water on my tatami...the rain started blowing in through the screen door before I got the glass door closed. This despite the large overhanging balcony.


Yay thunderstorms!

(Officially) 100

According to Blogger, this is my 100th post! In celebration, I have a picture of something very special to post today:

This is Very Important Moss (like VIP).


It says so right on the sign!


This was taken at Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, and (despite the lack of grand architecture or imposing views) it's one of my favorite temple pictures. Kinkaku-ji has beautiful gardens, and the moss covering the ground of the gardens is actually very important to the overall effect. This is part of a display showcasing the different varieties of moss used in various garden areas.

Sunset

Yesterday we had thunderstorms, off and on, all day (today, too, actually). But last night, around 6 or 7 PM, the sky cleared above my apartment and the sunset shone on the clouds that had been raining on us all day, and it was so pretty I stood there staring at the clouds for a few minutes. Then I got my camera and took pictures. And then stood there for a few more.


(The clouds were a prettier pink in real life ^^)

Breakfast

What are these mysterious objects in my morning cereal bowl?


...they appear to be some sort of mutant 3-hole Cheerios.


Oh, wait. Apparently they're actually mutant Frosted Flakes. They've got Tony the Tiger on the box and everything.


These are a new product...I've never seen Cheerios being sold here, so I was quite happy to find something similar. They're actually pretty good, though very sweet - taste almost like Honey Nut Cheerios. I just think it's funny that Kellog's is selling them as a Frosted Flakes spinoff. The large text on the box says "Frosty Crunch."

Train station!

Wa

和 (wa) = traditional Japan/Japanese. Here is a pretty Japanese wa-style garden and house!

Let's go shopping!

If there was a neat shopping center like this nearby, wouldn't you want to go?

Triangles

Apologies for yesterday...I was at school really late, then I had errands to run and I got home late, and I just didn't remember about uploading a picture...oops.

In penance, I bring you three views of Triangle Park in Shinsaibashi, Osaka.




(You might recognize the bunny/boy statue in the last shot from Saturday ^_~ )

Cornbread

I went to the store today...got some cornbread.


Yep. It's bread. With corn baked into it.

If you look closely, you can see the label, in white text, right below the green sticker. It says "Corn Bread" - in English, even.

It tastes pretty good, actually.

Triangle Park

This is Triangle Park in Shinsaibashi, Osaka...complete with graffitied boy-looking-at-bunnies statue.

Shrine Vending

...the best of both worlds?