Oh, look at that. It’s the Omizutori Festival today.

Previously…rabbits

Osaka

Higobashi APA Hotel

Good morning, Osaka.
Not the most scenic part of the town. It’s mostly offices here.

5 hours of sleep 🥱

Is this window meant to open this wide?

Gonna pop downstairs to grab some breakfast from the konbini.

This firm is using VR to showcase homes to prospective renters.

Dang, this omelette onigiri is good. I should’ve got another one.
The banana Fanta was merely alright.

They’re debating whether using Strike Witches for military recruitment was appropriate lmao.

Dotonbori

Wow, it’s just like my Yakuza games.

Dotonbori, the centre of the south half of Osaka.
Definitely the place to go if you’re visiting this city.

Thanks, I hate it.

B L O W F I S H

Fun fact:
The blowfish in Sonic Racing Transformed was originally a puyo in the Japanese version.

Wow, it sure got busy over the past hour. It must be the lunchtime rush.

Actually been here once before in 2014 for a few nights.
I was following a big group though so I never did any research of the area.

I’m only using Osaka as a hotel base this time so I still haven’t done any research.
Kinda hoping I just come across some nice restaurant on my way to the station.

Past me: “Cool, a crab restaurant.” *continues walking*
Future me: You can get food there! Why are you so bad at feeding yourself?

Dang, this street is filled with tourists (including myself).

An indoor fishing pool. Neat.

I love them all.

Past me: “Cool, a takoyaki place” *continues walking*
Future me: You can get food there! Why are you so bad at feeding yourself?

This place blasts out a playlist of takoyaki-themed songs such as these classics:

Takoyaki Song - Single ( たこやきのうた) Udaka Kaori & Tako Ball Kids

たこやきハレルヤ【高画質】　Takoyaki-Hallelujah　【ＨＤ】

If I have to get them stuck in my head so do you.

Why is there a vtuber on the billboard?
“Oh hey, a Tacobell. Never had that before.” *continues walking*

Namba Station Underground Mall

Some generic family diner

“Weird, I didn’t come across any restaurants. Guess I’ll have to settle for this station diner.”
I need to, like, bring a more impulsive friend the next time I travel.

It was merely alright. Honestly, it was the most merely alright meal of the trip.
Can’t remember what I even ordered. I think the one on the left was crab patties?

Anyway, time to head to Nara.

Tennoji Station

人類史上最も不安になる音「JR天王寺 阪和線の入線音」 pic.twitter.com/bZttCUBHuY

— 兵藤 (@ko_ma_) May 5, 2019

Train’s haunted.

Nara

Nara Station

Wow, I’m in Nara now.

Ok

I never get tired of seeing these long straight roads in Japanese cities.

Wow, Youtubers in the wild.

Cute bakery.
*continues walking*

Phew, gotta grab an energy drink. Sleep starting to catch up to me.
…
Now I feel worse. I don’t know why I keep drinking these things.

Outside the shopping district some guy was preaching about Jesus.

I was going to take a bus but I couldn’t figure out the schedule so I walked.
It was uphill all the way from the Nara train station to Nara Park 🙂🔫

Kofuku-ji Temple

I did end up passing by some slick looking temple though so that’s a plus.

[1 google session later]
It’s Kofuku-ji.
There was a fire 300 years ago and it was only rebuilt a few months ago.
That explains why everything is so clean.

It used to be the family temple for the Fujiwara Clan who famously married their daughters into the imperial family, allowing them control into the Heian court for 200 years.

Nara Park

That tree looks like it’s going to fall one day.

Wow, I’m in a forest now.

Those images are brutal.

Oh God oh fuck

If only we had listened to the signs 😱

I accidentally switched off the camera’s image stabilization and everything today came out blurry 😭

[insert pink panther theme]

Kasuga Taisha Shrine

Designated as a World Heritage Site, this is one of the more important shrines in Nara.
Kasuga Taisha is dedicated to the guardian deities of the city.
Those deities also watch over the Fujiwara clan who as you remember famouslymarriedtheirdaughtersintotheimperialfamilyallowingthemcontrolintotheHeiancourtfor200years.

Dude has a cute rain cover for his hat.

Make a wish.

The shrine is famous for its many lanterns. Each of which was donated.

This could’ve been a cool shot if it wasn’t so blurry.

I didn’t feel like paying to enter the inner areas or hanging around to explore.

Nara Park

Wait a second, that horse isn’t even real!

Spooky…

Made worse by these crows and their creepy cries echoing through the forest.
It was exactly like my animes.

These things are supposed to be the sacred messengers of the Gods.

O-Oishii haha…
(The melon cream soda wasn’t that nice actually)
(I even forgot to rotate the bottle so the label is actually facing the camera 😫)
(Brain slowly turning to slush from lack of sleep)

Todai-ji Temple

“Got some crackers, mate?”

Might as well check this place out while I’m here.
The Omizutori ceremony doesn’t start till tonight anyway.

Nandaimon Gate

That gate is unnecessarily big.
It’s like they’re expecting elephants to come through or something.

Humans for scale.

Your Buddhist temple isn’t complete without a couple of these bad boys.

Inside the gate…is another gate!
Not allowed to go through this one. Have to walk round to a side door.

Daibutsuden Hall

It’s 600 yen to enter the Daibutsuden (Big Buddha Hall) area.
It’s another World Heritage Site. Nara sure has a lot of those.

SuGOI DEKAI. It used to hold the record for world’s largest wooden building too.

Humans for scale.

Wowow.
Took me ages to walk across that courtyard, lol, much bigger than it looks.
The hall used to be bigger too before all the fires, earthquakes, wars, sabotage by rival sects etc.
Daibutsuden has been through a lot. The head of the Buddha statue even fell off at some point.

Wow wow wow wow wow.
The sheer size does not come through in the photos, you have to be there in person.

Why do I hear boss music?

I wasn’t originally planning to visit Nara if the Omizutori Festival wasn’t going on.
Thought I would be tired of cultural sightseeing by now.
Todaiji is the city’s main attraction but it didn’t seem that exciting in photos.
I’ve seen tons of Buddhas after all but now, seeing it in person, I was blown away.
This seems to be a recurring theme on this blog…

The Buddha is accompanied by a Bodhisattvas on each side.

wtf are those guys doing?

[1 Google session later]
That pillar on the left has a hole in it the size of the Buddha’s nostril.
If you can squeeze through it you’ll be granted enlightenment in your next life.
No fatties allowed evidently.

I wonder how often does a tourist gets stuck.

There’s even a cute lil model of the hall and the other buildings within the temple.

The hall was closing early to prepare for the festival later.
They were calling for last minute entries over megaphones that could be heard throughout the park.

Nara Park

These aren’t my glasses.

“The stalls give the park such a fun vibe. All this food sure is making me hungry.”
*continues walking*

“Hey, that looks nice.”
*continues walking*

Oh wait, that poster…

東京と違う pic.twitter.com/LxsgoQQXya

— NoeNoe (@NoeVRC) January 3, 2020

To think we were in the same spot but at a different point in time.

On today’s episode of “Where the fuck am I?”

Back to civilisation.

Downtown Nara

Nara is a pretty convenient city to visit.
All the interesting places are all smushed into the centre.

I think this is my first time in a McDonald’s this trip.
I’m only using their toilet though.

Mochiidono Shopping Arcade

World’s OKest mart

This street is one of the oldest in Nara.
It’s the perfect place to find traditional sweets and crafts.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara opening theme in Nara’s Mochiidono Shopping Arcade

Oh hey.

Eating dinner at Wakakusa Curry tonight after seeing a recommendation somewhere.
Wow, look at me. I’m eating a proper meal for once.

The house recommendation: 4 Curry in 1 Plate

Spinach curry, mild curry, lamb brown curry and chicken curry.
Topped with steamed vegetables and papad.
Oishii 😋

I didn’t like the lamb curry that much though.
I should’ve ordered some more toppings too. It was a pretty small dish.
Wish more restaurants had big “OUR RECOMMENDATION” stickers on their menu.

Wow, it got dark while I was in there.
Night time here is so much more peaceful than say Osaka or Tokyo.

Time to walk back up the hill…

Nara Park

Todai-ji Temple

Unsurprisingly, a park is pretty dark at night 👻
Todai-ji has so many buildings other than the Buddha hall and they’re all so spread out.
Thankfully, I can just follow these guys because I don’t actually know the way.

Nigatsu-do Hall

Arrived just in time for the Omizutori ceremony to start.
Most of the festival is just for the priests. Only the ceremony at the end is of public interest.
Like, they do all these rituals where they can’t leave or speak for the whole period etc.

Something about how only during this time of the year the well underneath has water.
The Nigatsu-do Hall even gets its name from this time of the year.
The Gods are invited to come bless the water which can then cure illnesses and stuff.
The name Omizutori itself refers to this drawing of the well water.

It’s an annual festival that’s been going on for welllll over 1250 years.
When the festival is over it will be the start of the sakura blossoms.

Starting…

The ceremony at the end of the festival is called Otaimatsu and lasts for 2 weeks.
It’s done every night but the number and size of torches varies.
Today is just one of the early days but the days at the end are extra spectacular where they take all the torches out at once.

Big ol’ torches are brought out and the priests will wave them, drawing circles in the air etc.

Nyoooom~

Then the priest sprints across the balcony, showering embers over the public.
The burning embers bestow the public below with good luck and all that.

Aw yis, gimme that luck.

The torch is spun about, continuing to fling embers while the next priest starts their routine.
Occasionally the torch is smacked on the fence, like tapping the ash off a cigarette.
The sound of wood on wood echoes out in a really satisfying way.

This whole process was repeated 10 times.

Captivated

The organizers were shouting “turn off your camera flashes please” throughout.
Nobody did.
The crowd had a lot of elderly so I’m not sure they even knew how to.

Also some kid with Asperger’s was having a fit at the back.

They smacked the last one extra hard causing a huge fireball to rain down.
*crowd oohs and sugois*
I thought they accidentally dropped the torch at first lol.
(It’s not this photo, I missed the last one haha…)

End

It started raining half way and, no, I didn’t bring an umbrella.

Nara Station

In Japan, you don’t thank the driver, the driver thanks you.

There were buses scheduled to take people back to the station.
I’m so glad I didn’t have to walk all the way back in the rain. Must be all that good luck.

ureshii🎵

Got a vending machine hot chocolate for the trip back 😊

Just about ready to go to bed. Spent a lot of time on my feet today.
Like most days…

Osaka

Namba Station

Fuck, this station again.

Fuckkk.

FFF- oh hey, a conveyor belt. I’m fine with this.
Yeah, I already don’t like this station.

I was going to head back to the hotel but I recognised this exit.

I stayed in this hotel the first time I visited Osaka.
And underneath the hotel…

…is a supermarket!

Central Square Life

\Poi/

Kawaii

Sugoi dekai

He’s doing the anime thing! Supermarkets discount food late at night.

Disappointed I didn’t see anyone fighting over the bento boxes.

Wow~ Fancy~

Dang, Japanese cash machines are built.

Went to use the ATM before leaving and accidentally cut in front of someone.
I didn’t realise they were in the queue… 🙇‍♂️

Higobashi APA Hotel

I may have gone overboard buying snacks. Had to save some of it for breakfast.

• Almond Crush Pocky ✅
• Tropical fruit juice drink ✅
• C1000 Vitamin Lemon energy drink ✅
• Curry Cup Noodle ✅
• Pino ice cream ✅
• Strawberry tart ✅
• Dango ✅
• Late-night discounted tuna futomaki ✅
• Corn chocolate ✅✅✅

If I knew the corn chocolates were this good I would have bought more of them.
I ate like half the pack in 1 go and I never saw it for sale again.

Pino are bite-sized chocolate-coated ice cream. Oishii.

Wash it down with complimentary water with the owner’s wife’s face on the bottle.

Epilogue

Nara is pretty close to Osaka. Less than an hour by train.

Lmao 🙂🔫

This is the city centre but past Nara Park is basically all wild forest.
So really, the centre is actually on the edge of the actual livable part of the city.
^{holy shit, Lemon, nobody cares}

wow

Next time…Himeji Castle!

🔞Omake🔞

—🔞🔞🔞—

nani the fuck