Hidden Fox Shrine

Just off one of the main roads in my town are some torii, or wooden gateways used in Shrines. They look like this:



Though I've seen these gates many times, I never bothered to go up there until recently. The gates are on top of an old concrete sloped wall like many that considered off-limits. In fact, this one is from October 1941 (I think). This stone was near the site. It says "Showa 16, October". Showa is the posthumous name for Hirohito and his reign was from 1925-1989, so Showa 16 would be 1941:


At the top I was surprised to see a surprising new and well maintained shrine. There doesn't seem to be any access to this area except for an old walkway that is being encroached upon by plants. Nevertheless, a pretty clean shrine was sitting up at the top:


The reason I call it Hidden Fox Shrine is because I don't know what it is properly called and there were two statues of foxes in the largest building:


This little mountain was a fairly steep climb up, so it offered a good view of at least parts of Sonobe:



I think these photos make Sonobe look a lot bigger than it actually is.

More Osaka

Some pictures I took from around Osaka the last time I was there. This is around Namba, one of the big shopping and night districts. It was particularly crowded when I was there:



A river between some of the covered walkways:



Eventually I walked to an island where the main municipal buildings are kept (as in city hall and maybe the courthouse) At one end of the island is a park:



There were several roads that went above the island. Most of them had some kind of mural or painting on the walkway leading up to the roads. Here's one:



I'm not quite sure what this building is, maybe an assembly or conference center. It's near city hall between a public library and ceramics museum. I think it's fairly new:

Sonobe Student Festival (I think)

The principal at one of my schools told me about a festival last Saturday in Sonobe at a temple down the street from where I live. I think he said it had to do with schools or students, though I'm not really sure. In any case, I stopped by and a lot of kids from my schools were there. At the central part of the temple I saw some kind of dance with on guy stacked on top of another and flute music playing:



There was also a parade with a bunch of kids in 1st grade or below. Most of them were wearing make-up and many were crying at various points:

Osaka Natural History Museum

Right now I'm in the middle of "Golden Week", a roughly week long chain of holidays that everyone has off work. Trains are a lot more crowded and so is pretty much anywhere you'd want to go. Nevertheless, on Thursday I went to the natural history museum in Osaka. They have a temporary exhibit with dinosaurs that has been advertised a lot.

Although the temporary exhibit itself was pretty good (though short), the museum was a bit of a let down. To be fair, the main part of the museum was free and the exhibit wasn't particularly expensive by Japanese standards. But I continue to be surprised at the relatively low quality of Japan's museums. Osaka is the second largest city in Japan, but this museum (with the possible exception of the special exhibit) paled in the comparison to even the University of Iowa natural history museum. Mostly it was insects, which was okay, but more comparable to the small museum locked away in the upstairs of my dad's office in Coe than to a world class city's museum.

I remember going to the natural history museum in Prague and seeing whale bones hanging up on the ceiling. Prague is thousands of miles from the ocean, but they still managed somehow to get a whale skeleton there. Japanese eat whales, but there weren't any animals larger than a raccoon at this museum (actually it was a 'tanooki', but similar to a raccoon).

One thing I did like was the way they used lights on the skeletons. One (the first one here) was done really well, while the others could have been better. I think they were limited in their abilities to use the light because of the confined space for the special exihibit. Anyway, here are some pictures:





The only large stuffed mammal I saw was in an elementary school. A lot of the kids in my town where bells on their bags to scare away bears, though I think they're pretty rare now. One was at some point killed, stuffed, and given to one of my schools. I don't know why, but they keep it in a stairwell that goes up to the roof, hidden behind some billboards. It surprised me the first time I saw it. I think it would be better displayed at the main entrance to the school.

My beautiful garden

Recently I moved to a new apartment. It's only about a ten minute walk from my old one, but it's technically in a different part of town named 美園 (Misono), literally 'beautiful garden'. In part because of that, but mostly because a little fenced-in yard, I've decided to plant a little garden to grow some vegetables. Here's my 'backyard':


Since then I've pulled some weeds out and put in some potted plants. here's a picture of what it looked like after that:


In all liklihood all my plants will be dead within the month. Maybe I'll be able to eat some of it one day.

Sakura festival

The beginning of April was the cherry blossom festival. There were events all over Kyoto and people out for flower-viewing parties. A lot of people were wearing kimonos, like this mother and daughter:


Some more people:


There was a camera crew out videotaping and they briefly interviewed me:


A geisha or maiko (or someone dressed like one) was out having her picture taken nearby:


And some people taking pictures of her:

Yasaka Shrine

Yasaka Shrine is rather prominently displayed with a bright orange gate along a major street in Kyoto. For some reason I haven't been here before this week, though I am frequently in the same area. I didn't really know where it was until I wander upon it one day and was able to read the Japanese sign. The orange theme is repeated throughout.


The entrance is often full of people taking pictures. It makes it hard to get in without ruining a photo.


Sakura around a gate inside the shrine.


Throughout the shrine were booths selling all kinds of food and other things. It was a weekday when I went and a little chilly, so many of the tents were empty. You can see some of them around this post.


Some lanterns around the shrine. Many places have lamp viewing at night, but you typically have to pay. Even if you go during the day you have to get a 'night' ticket too.