Landing in Osaka, Japan

Feb 08, 2024

Landing in Osaka, Japan

It's a short hop from Seoul to Osaka

The view from Harukas 300 building, the tallest building in Osaka and the second tallest in Japan.

As much as we love South Korea for its fabulous food and beautiful scenery, Japan also holds a special place in our hearts. With almost three weeks in Asia before returning to the US, we needed to come up with a plan. At first, we thought about driving to the East Coast of Korea to explore an area new to us. My expired international driver's permit squashed that idea.

As it turns out, flights to Japan are super affordable, and the thought of spending a couple of weeks in a different country was appealing. We have been to Japan in the past, and like Korea, it's always fun to visit again.

Once we landed and made our way by bus and train to the area near our Airbnb, it was dark. Actually, we weren't in the area near our room. The very detailed yet cryptic directions from our host had us get off the train too early. We had no idea one more stop would have made all the difference. So we trudged through the dark city streets pulling our roller bags behind us. It seemed like forever before we found the Airbnb.

Our Airbnb was in a residential area with nothing nearby. No stores or restaurants anywhere near. How would we have known? We soon found an authentic Indian restaurant several blocks away. They were open for dinner so we headed over. It turned out, we were in the Indian immigrant part of Osaka. The food was delicious, and the family who owned the restaurant was friendly and helped us get a feel for the area. Still, Indian food in Japan. that was unexpected for sure.

Getting a feel for the area meant finding a grocery store that accepted credit cards. It's odd to Americans like us, who think of Japan as a technically advanced society. Many of the stores are cash-only, including our new favorite Indian restaurant. They kindly directed us down the street, past the "cash only" grocery store. Where we ended up at the fancy over-priced grocery store that accepted credit cards.

It wasn't the start to our Japan trip we had been hoping for. The directions to the Airbnb and part of town we were staying in didn't sit well. Not because it was the Indian part of town. It's that we felt so far from everything. However, the kind people at the restaurant and being able to buy groceries late at night got us headed in the right direction. And as it turned out, we were in a pretty choice location after all.

At the top. I've visited many observation decks to photograph cities. This is the first time I have shared one of those photos. It turned out better than most and gave me some good practice in Photoshop. This picture is five images stitched together in Photoshop. The square patch of green near the center is the Buddhist temple and gardens pictured below. Unfortunately, a cloud hung over that area, casting a shadow that, well, ruined the photo. I had another photo of that area without the cloud covering the temple. By cutting, pasting, stretching, and adjusting the temple area from the second photo, I was able to blend it in and eliminate the shadow. Pretty neat, huh?

Below, top. Temple and shrine compounds always have a gate to enter through. This is the roof of the gate to enter the Shitennoji Temple area, which I promise is in the photo above. The gate indicates a Buddhist temple with a tile roof. The Shinto Shrines have a Torri Gate to enter through, which is red and totally made of wood. Japan has an interesting mix of spiritual and cultural beliefs.

Below, bottom. A stone carving(?) is protected under a roof in the Isshinji temple compound. I don't have any background on what this is exactly. I thought it made for a nice composition, so I photographed it.