Today, I planned to go to Osaka Castle and to the International Peace Center, which is a WWII museum. Osaka Castle was a great choice on this particular day. It is the first day of
Golden Week, which is sort like a country-wide spring break, and it was beautiful outside. A little bit hot when I stood in the sun for too long, but very nice compared to the much colder weather we've been having. Osaka Castle was very crowded and I didn't end up going inside. I have a feeling the outside is really the interesting part, though I'm sure I'll venture in at some point. Anyhow, Osaka Castle is surrounded by a huge park. People were camping and BBQing in the forest just off the path. There were also dance and music performances with elaborate costumes. The park is beautiful and filled with giant rocks and old wooden structures. I'd love to have a picnic there sometime. Here are some weird statues I saw while wandering around the park.
I have no idea what they are, but I thought they were interesting. So after wandering around for some time, I found myself at the International Peace Center almost entirely by accident. It turned out to be a mediocre museum, though there were some really graphic holocaust images that I'm pretty sure were banned from the U.S. because I've seen quite a lot of them and these were much more graphic than any I'd seen. A lot of the exhibits didn't have real english translations other than "picture of Japanese soldiers" or "Japanese enrollment card". There were a lot of documents, letters and forms that would have been really interesting to read,
but there were no translations. Here are some pictures from walking around Osaka Castle. The castle is surrounded by a moat and huge stone walls. This family was riding this strange boat around in the water and I thought it was really cool looking. I wonder if these boats are common, or if it's a special Osaka Castle traditional boat. This is where the language barrier is unfortunate. The walls are really beautiful with moss and ivy and trees growing over the tops. You can see a couple buildings behind it
and I like that old versus new thing that happens so often here. Later in the day, I saw workers wearing traditional japanese hats, sleeping on these old fashioned wooden carts that they use to move produce to and from the market. The market had closed down for the day and they were probably resting before going home. It would have been quaint, but they were resting underneath a highway overpass. Japan is a strange place.
So it turned out that the first place I went (above with the strange lamp post) was some kind of Japanese pop concert. I didn't notice this at first and I remember thinking how strange Japan is that they would have pop culture souveniers at an ancient landmark.
Oddly, this didn't surprise me. The gentleman to the left is directing either people or traffic. I have no idea what his sign says because Kanji are very difficult to learn and almost as difficult to look up unless you already know how to pronounce them. And how would I know that? I was taking pictures of the wall behind him and he looked to funny. Also, you may notice that everyone in this picture is wearing a jacket. I was wearing a tanktop and sweating. I don't know what is wrong with these people. It was sweltering outside.
To the right is a picture of what might be some kind of monk. These guys were stationed at all of the entrances to the castle, standing alone in the woods. I was afraid I wasn't supposed to talk to them, but after I look pictures of this guy, I felt bad, so I said good morning to him. He bowed to me and resumed his pose. I don't know what's in the bowl either. Basically, he is as much a mystery to me as he is to you. Also, he wore traditional sandals that look like socks with a separate section for the big toe. I find them very uncomfortable looking. They might be made out of straw or some other thick, dry fiber. Here are some images of Osaka Castle on the long walk towards it from the subway, or more accurately, from the pop concert I accidentally ended up at first. To get to the castle, you walk through these beautiful paths, many of which have trees and are shady, which was quite nice after walking in the sun for so long. In the close-up picture, you can see all of the visitors inside the castle looking out at the view.
I should probably note that these three posts refer to the same day. Tuesday was a very long day. By the time we got to Kiyomizu Temple, we were all fairly exhausted. We walked around through the gardens surrounding the temple for a while, which I thought were actually more interesting than the temple itself. We found all of these little statues with these aprons tied around them. I think they are particularly beautiful. 
These statues are meant to save the souls of people who have gone to hell. They have particular significance to parents who have lost children or miscarried. The aprons are hand-made, usually by mothers who have lost their children or whose children are very ill. It's actually really sad when you see all of those beautiful aprons like that. Sometimes they also have sweet hats. Here is the pagoda (I think that's the official name of this type of building) at the entrance to kiyomizu temple. It was close to sunset and the position of the sun made it difficult to take any good pictures of kiyomizu temple.
It's actually kind of boring looking. It's built entirely of wood and it isn't painted. It is very high off of the ground (especially for a wooden structure, or so they tell me). It is believed that someone who survives jumping off of the temple will have good fortune. I read somewhere that around 250 people tried it and about 85% of them survived. It was banned at some point. I'm actually sort of surprised so many people survived. It's like jumping about 10 stories. you land in the forest, so it's not all that bad, but it's still pretty far.Like the aprons, there are also a couple other things that collect like that in mass quantities and make for an interesting view. 
There are these poles that people tie prayers or wishes to. The temple sells these little pieces of paper for ¥100 (about $1). The paper is like an order form for good fortune. You fill it out and tie it to the pole. The papers are removed daily. We had the misfortune of watching the paper removal and it's really depressing. A guy comes out with a key and empties the donation bin (where you place your ¥100 coin) and then grabs the pole and sort of violently pulls off all of the fortunes and puts them in a paper burning-rubbish bag, like the kind you put leaves in. Some of the temples have a similar thing with these wooden plates, only they are hung on pegs and left for a week. This particular shrine was for luck in love, so all of these plates have notes on them about people's love interests. I bet they're really funny to read. (Definite incentive to learn to read better.)
After kiyomizu temple, we tried to continue our walking tour, but it was already past 5pm and everything was closing. The next temple we were going to was ryozen kannon temple, which is really just a giant statue. The temple was closed, but we could see the statue from over the roof of the gatehouse. May I note: That is a mountain behind the statue.
