Japan!

On January 1st at 4:00am, Jake and I flew off from Saipan on a direct flight to Osaka, Japan. We could not wait to land in Japan and get off island for a few days. Plus neither of us have ever been anywhere on this side of the world, besides here: saipan! So needless to say we were excited to get outta here!

Our flight to Osaka went smoothly - we were both tired enough that we slept pretty much the whole way. We landed at 6:30 AM Japan time. Ready for a full day of sight-seeing and travling. We bought a 3 day Kansai pass - which we could use on any subway or train or bus system in 5 different cities.
This is us on the first subway ride.

Once we got into Osaka, we walked around our Hostel's area until we finally found the hostel tucked back down two side streets. We checked in around 9AM, settled into our tiny room that was literally like 3feet by 10feet with a tiny t.v. and a tatami mat + blanket for sleeping.

We dropped off our bags and headed out. We wandered around looking for temples and shrines, food every once in a while (like Mc D's where we ate our first breakfast). We found tons of temples and shrines, parks with statues and benches (which were always nice for our tired feet), and the shopping district with more people than I ever seen in my life.

( Here I am standing at one of the entrances)

Jake at one of the many temple entrances - which were also packed with people. We happened to be in Japan over one of their main holidays! So nobody was working and they were all celebrating the "firsts" of their year. Like first temple visit (hence all the people), and first shopping sale/day (hence all the people there too).

Later that evening, Jake and I went to this Japanese curry restaurant for dinner and then found our way to the Floating Garden Observatory. We took the ladder and escalator up to the 177th floor where we had this amazing view of Osaka.

Day 2:
We meet up with Pastor Greg (our Pastor at SCS) and Joel (the P.E. teacher) at the Osaka Castle. We did the Castle tour inside and outside. It was great to meet up with people we knew and who spoke English! It was a beautiful castle too - one of my favorite sights we saw.

Joel, Pastor and Jake walking out of the Castle!!!

Me and the gorgeous castle!!!

Afterwards, we sayed goodbye, and then Jake and I took off for Kyoto, which was about a 40 min. train ride.

(women dressed in old-style kimonos and Japanese clothing - sleeping)

Once in Kyoto we walked around finding gorgeous and busy temples. We found the Grand Orange Temple and several others. The temples are so beautifully built and set up, but always makes me wonder things about faiths - like Buddhism. (That's a different blog though...)The Grand Orange Temple (one of the buildings)

We spent the rest of the day in the Gion district which used to be the old Geisha part of town. The buildings were beautiful, old and all I could imagine was the history. I had heard that you could pay and dress up in a kimono and get the Geisha make-up - but we couldn't find it anywhere.

This is me in the Gion district.

It was also Jake's 23rd birthday on Friday Jan. 2nd - and so we ate at this Japanese noodle restuarant. Great food - and you can tell Jake was happy it was his birthday!!

Jake and I spent the night at a nice hotel in Kyoto - because we walked around for 2 hours looking for a hostel and every time we found one, they were full. So we found this nice hotel and got a room there, which also gave you a nice kimono robe for later....

The next day we were up early again with a goal of finding the Golden Temple and the Bamboo forest. We eventually found both along with other temples and palaces.

Here is the Imperial Palace wall - which felt like we were walking miles around.

A garden at another palace we found. So peaceful and serene. I told Jake once we own a house - he will have to build me one of these in the backyard! :)

We finally found the Golden Temple. It was majestic and an amazing site.

After the temple we made it out to the Bamboo Forest and mountainous area, where we rented bikes and biked all around that part of the city. It was by far our favorite part of the city with beautiful houses and temples, stores full of amazing Japanese dishes and souvenirs and great food. There was also the Oih River running right through this part of the town. It was just beautiful!!

The Oih River, one of our bikes and Jake and I!!!

The only snow we saw - at the tip of that mountain!

We took the train back to Osaka later that night and headed back to Hotel Toyo - the hostel we stayed at the 1st night. Our last day was filled up with the Aquarium, IMAX movie, food and shopping at the harbor mall.

Jake and the Aquarium!

One of the world's tallest Ferris Wheels

We headed back to the airport, sad but ready to leave. We had 4 full and long days and saw some amazing sights. We are so blessed by God to be living on this side of the world and able to travel and see different cultures and peoples that He has created.

What a great trip! We can't wait to do it again!