Feeling a bit iffy now so I figure blogging about something happy would cheer me up. So here goes - Japan Part 2+3/3 - Less words, more pictures, because I know I can be really long winded.

After all that snow, we headed to the Takeshima Island, which houses Yaotomi Shrine. Essentially, that shrine's supposed to bestow luck for births and marriages, or something like that.

The island was generally quiet and serene, lacking the hubbub of Tokyo and Osaka (which we would later encounter!)

These were the divinations that people were supposed to refer to after having prayed at the temple.

This was taken on the way back from Takeshima Island, Those seagulls aren't scared of humans at all...

After returning from Takeshima, we headed to a Tea Plantation to watch how a traditional tea ceremony in Japan would be like. The photos of that aren't all that interesting, but as we whizzed past the suburbs, we saw rows and rows of tea bushes! As a sidenote, the green tea in Japan is really exquisite. It's slightly more bitter than what we get here, but its taste is much more distinguishable.

Our next stop was Kyoto, which is my favourite city out of all by far. We visited Kiyomizu Temple, which apparently bestowed luck in love and marriages. I actually was more interested in the scenery. It was one of the most beautiful temples I'd ever seen. Oh, and, I wasn't able to get a picture without people in it, so yeah, my sister's there.

As we exited the temple, the path led us to a myriad of quaint shops below. Some were selling the usual touristy stuff, but some sold food like GREEN TEA SOFT SERVE! I think i ate Green Tea + Chestnut soft serve which was reallllly delish.

The next stop was Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion, which was another one of my favourite landmarks. The Pavilion you see there is coated with Gold Leaf (i.e., it's real gold!) and has been standing there since 1955. The original temple dated back to 1397 but was burned down, twice. It was once a Shogun (Japanese Warlord's) residence but has since been converted into a building that houses Buddhist relics.

We then managed to see a present-day Geisha! OK, not quite. This lady here is a Maiko, otherwise known as a Apprentice Geisha, who's basically someone who's in the final stage of her geisha training. Would you believe it, she's only 18 years old! Maikos tend to be more smiley and friendly, so this Maiko was pretty obliging when it came to photos etc. Geishas, on the other hand, tend to be more serious and sombre, so it'd be rare to catch them with a smile.

We proceeded to the Shinkansen station to catch a bullet train to Osaka.

And trust me, when the train whizzes by, you feel the whole earth shake under your feet. So fast, it's gone in 3 seconds, leaving you with your jaw on the ground and your heart beating twice as fast as it was before.

Within half an hour we were in Osaka. Hungry, we trooped into this Japanese restaurant for our dinner.

Lovely, lovely tempura don + soba.

OK I couldn't resist posting this because that crab is so darn huge, it's bigger than a human. The only catch is that it's fake. Anyway, the point is that Shinsaibashi had LOADS of these crab-adverts and each tried to out do each other in terms of size. Quite funny, because you'd then see rows of them pincers moving and clacking in just one block.

Osaka, Shinsaibashi (shopping district). Yup, they're all advertizing billboards made up of neon lights!

We ended the trip at Universal Studios, which actually wasn't much fun because I didn't get to sit on a roller coaster AT ALL. The only one they had was closed for maintainence! I think I'm going to visit Six Flags soon. Why on earth are there no rollercoasters at Theme Parks?! Gahhh.

And, oh, how could I forget? The famous toilet bowls of Japan which come equipped with a bidet spray thing (a nozzle that rinses your butt), and oh, music to mask any unglamourous sounds of clearing your bowels/bladder. How ingenius!

With that I give you Part 2+3 of my Japan posts :)