Osaka, Japan

I am writing this on the bus on one of our tours.  It is a two-hour ride to our first stop.  We are
half way there and are taking a bathroom break.  I am told that there are flowers in the ladies
restroom and the women have made consistent comments about the heated toilet seats.  Bottom
line is that the Japanese are much more fastidious than we are and are probably horrified when
making a stop at a truck stop restroom in the US.

We are on our second day in Kobe, Japan and on our second tour of the stop.  We will not
actually visit Kobe during our two-day stay.  Instead, yesterday we visited a temple and a castle
in Osaka.  This was after a unique sail-in where we were led by a fire? pumper? boat which set
off its water cannons and then colored the water, first red, then yellow and then blue before going
clear again. It was an hour’s bus drive to get to Osaka.  We stayed close to the sea as there are
mountains inland.  Osaka is the 3rd largest city in Japan.  You could not tell where Kobe stopped
and Osaka started.  This is more how I had pictured Japan.  Wall to wall cityscape.  

Tour guides in this country are a bit different than most other countries.  They all speak about the

guests allowing them to be successful by being on time and not getting injured.  If a guest is late
the guide is not doing a good job.  

We went to the temple first.  We usually learn a little bit at each stop.  This was no exception.
 There were two colorful Chinese statues guarding the entrance. On the right was one with mouth
open and on the left was one with his mouth closed.  The sound represented by the open mouth is
the first sound in the Sanskrit language and the mouth closed represents the final sound in
Sanskrit.  Think Alpha and Omega or A to Z.  The temple is Buddhist.  Approximately 80% of
Japanese are Buddhist and about 85% are Shinto which is the indigenous religion.  They want to
cover all their bases. When you die Buddha comes to your bedside with music to ease your
fears.  If you’ve been good he brings a whole orchestra.  If you’ve been bad nobody comes.
 Oriented East and West, the rising sun signifies the start of life, and the setting sun with its
calming colors signifies the end of the life cycle. Also on the tops of the temples are golden fish
at the corners. The concept was that fish are associated with water so would protect the
buildings from fire. It didn’t work very well.

There is a 5-story high pagoda as a focal point in the center of the complex.  There are large

gravel fields meticulously raked into furrows and patterns. We got to hear a monk chanting
prayers and saw two large statues as well as numerous wall paintings. A spring sends holy water
to a spout and into a small pool. Unlike church these temples do not hold communal services.
Individuals come to offer prayers and seek blessings.

The second site on our visit was Osaka Castle. There were large moats and huge walls
protecting access to the main keep. The castle was first built starting in 1583. Its history is
compelling but it has been leveled and rebuilt multiple times. The walls are impressive and use
large hewn rocks tipped inwards to use gravity and angles of force to make them stronger.

There were impressive gates and water made for nice reflections. These sites all have gardens,
what we would more likely call parks because most of the fauna are beautifully sculpted trees.
The tower keep here was eight stories high. While the rest of our group took the elevator to the
5 th of 8 floors, we chose to walk the stairs as this is where we get great exercise. Then as we
descended, floor by floor, we walked the circumference of each and took in the history, the color,
and the masses of people! Some of the photos will attest.

Then it was back to the ship for dinner with a couple from Florida who’ve been married 67

years. Precious conversations and it’s a birthday today for one of them. Oh, and it’s Halloween
so we have carved pumpkins in various parts of the ship. Hope we remember to send a photo.