Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto : Beautiful Kyoto Representation

When you visit Kyoto, make sure that you won’t miss Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社), especially if you love Japanese manga and anime so much. Having the catchy orange color, this shrine could always attract photographers and tourists to come here again and again due to the sunlight that comes across toriis (鳥居 shrine gates). Beautiful!!!

Fushimi Inari Shrine could be reached by getting off at Inari Station. Take a a bit walk and soon you’ll find a lot of souvenir and snack shops before you reach Fushimi Inari Shrine. Our advice: don’t find your snacks and souvenirs first because you are about to have a hard work up there. Hahahaha..... After leaving those irresistible deals behind, you’ll find a lot of people in Main Shrine. You could wash your hand, make a prayer as Japanese or write a prayer on an orange torii-looking Ema (board to write your wishes). 

If you are ready enough, let’s find the line of torii and let the party begins!

Fushimi Inari Shrine was built at the western of Inari Mountain and presented for Inari Okami (God of Harvest). Why are there so much toriis here? Inari Okami is known as guardian of abundant crops, business, prosperity and family safety. Businessmen make toriis as their form of gratitudes and prayers.

prize of torii (credit : inari.jp)

Since we reaced Inari Station, portraits of fox always appeared, like in Inari Station, in front of Main Shrine, among the path of toriis, Inner Shrine, everywhere. Citizens believe that spirit fox, known as Inari Okami’s servant, could send our hopes to Inari Okami.

The beginning of the journey was so crowded. People gave all efforts to walk along that path. We were so surprised to find that there was a Japanese woman wearing kimono and geta (wooden sandals) going up and down the stairs. How could she? Foody, who was wearing sport shoes and normal clothes (T-shirt and jeans) was so afraid to fall down, then how could she do that?

 

If you have climbed high enough, you’ll find Kyoto city view from Inari Mountain. It was about 12.30PM when we got there. No heat, just fresh air and beautiful scenery. 

But no wonder, due to its height, a lot of tourists began to go down, back to Main Shrine. We still could find small restaurants in this height and people could enjoy their lunch here. 

We decided to face Inner Shrine first before having our lunchs. After a long walk and high stairs, we reached the Inner Shrine. Not as big as Main Shrine but still there was a lot of people prayed here, especially Japanese people. Throwing coins to the box, claping hands twice, make a prayer and claping hands once again. In the back of the inner shrine, you could find written torii Emas placed around. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English and others.

Finished our target, then way to go down. It’s even more dangerous to go down than go up. We spent much time here and only could find vending machines. No more restaurants in this height. Slowly and carefully, we arrived in Main Shrine and finally eat our lunch, Kyoto sushi that we bought on street before we got here.

After that, time for snacking and shopping. We enjoy our 700 yen grilled quail (uzura うずら) and 500 yen big size yakitori. 

uzura 

grilled yakitori

After searching in many souvenir stores, we bought a pretty yet elegant geisha doll.

Good journey, good foods. Yeahhhh!!!!!

This shrine opens 24 hours. However, it is better to get here at morning or afternoon. Because when it’s getting dark, it seems to be more dangerous to go up and down the stairs. But some people say that it’s quite pretty at night due to light from lamp that reflects the orange toriis. 

Address   =  68 Fukakusa Yabunouchicho, Fushimi Ward,

                    Kyoto City 612-0882

Website = http://inari.jp

We eat, we walk, we talk

-FoodyFooty2-

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Dotonbori, Osaka : Foods Everywhere

Dotonbori area is one of the Osaka’s symbol. It has been a night life entertainment district for decades with a lot of restaurants and illuminations. Not only restaurants but street foods as well.

This canal project was started in 1612 based on the idea of Yasui Doton, a local entrepreneur in Osaka. But unluckily, he died during Siege of Osaka for protecting Hideyori Toyotomi. The canal was finally done in 1615. Due to his idea, this canal was named as his name, Doton and hori in Japanese that means canal. In 1621, Tokugawa Shogunate had a urban planning for Dotonbori to become an entertainment district in that era. There were 6 kabuki (classical Japanese drama) theatres and 5 bunraku (puppet drama) theatres but because of the rejections of these sort of entertainment, most of the theaters were closed. The five remaining theatres were bombed during World War II.

Now we will take about how to get there. Got off at Namba Station and about 5 minutes of walking from there, soon we found a ‘Dotonbori’ colorful gate. It is  better to schedule your travel itinerary carefully, so you could be there at afternoon or night.

We didn’t buy fugu sushi here because we already ate it at Shinsekai before we headed to Dotonbori. The Fugu sushi restaurant at Dotonbori is the same as Shinsekai’s, the name is Zuboraya. Fugu fish is known as a poisoned fish that could kill 30 people, especially if it isn’t prepared well. But don’t worry! In Japan, only certified chef who could serve this dish in order to make sure it could be consumed safely. Now you know why this dish isn’t cheap and usually served in sashimi platter. Dare to try? Find out this Zuboraya lantern.

credit : gojapango/com

The most famous trademark in Dotonbori is a giant 300 metres running athlete in blue track. This is a symbol of Glico candy since 1935 and is now provided by LED light. Why 300 metres? It is said that one Glico candy contains 15,4 kcal which is enough to be used to run that far.

Don’t miss Kuidaore Taro too! This mechanical drum-playing doll used to be a mascot of Cuidaore restaurant since 1950.  

Would like to have a different experience here? You may try Tombori River Cruise to enjoy sightseeing from Dotonbori River.

We bought our delicious Osaka King Fried Gyoza here (200 yen for 5 pieces). And also huge squid okonomiyaki (900 yen) in a restaurant under Glico man. We held our lust of takoyaki because we planned to go to Takoyaki Museum at Universal City Walk, so sadly takoyaki wasn’t in our list today. Enjoying our huge dinner in front of cruising boat and glorious atmosphere in Dotonbori area was surely a great guilty pleasure. Hahaha.......

After finished eating, if you have more time, you could also explore attractions near Dotonbori area:

-Shinsaibashi Shopping Street

Usually open from 11.00 AM to 21.00. It is a 600 metres length shopping center that provides local and international clothes labels.

-National Bunraku Theater

Usually held in January, April, June, July/ August and November. Ticket costs from about 2.000 yen to 6.000 yen.

-Shochikuza Theater

Usually held five times a year. Ticket costs from about 4.000 yen to 15.000 yen.

-Hozenji Yokocho Alley

No admission needed. There are more than 60 traditional restaurants and izakayas along its path, and also small Hozenji Temple to pray.

-Kamigata Ukiyoe Museum

Opens from 11 AM to 6 PM (last admission is 5.30 PM). Closing days is Monday (or following day if Monday is a national holiday) and the ticket costs 500 yen. You may find here a permanent Kamigata Ukiyeo (woodblock print that typically features kabuki actors) exhibit. 

-KUIDAORE 食い倒れ (EAT UNTIL YOU DROP)-

We eat, we walk, we talk

-FoodyFooty2-

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Osaka Castle Museum: History of Japan's unification

Got off at Osakatemmangu Station大阪天満宮駅 (the right station is actually at Osakajokoen大阪城公園駅) and headed to Osaka Castle. Foody was super excited when we saw a little part of Osaka Castle’s green rooftop behind the high stone walls around it. ‘We are so close, Dude. Yuhuuuu!!!!!!’ But what? It’s a long walk, if we could say it that way. Hahahahaha....... Finally very happy to find the entrance gate. But first, we enjoyed vanilla and green tea ice cream that we bought from food stalls there. They also sell soba, ramen and other meals.

Osaka Castle (大阪城) is one of the most famous landmarks in Japan and a popular site for sakura-viewing (hanami 花見). When we entered the entrance gate and walked a bit, we could see hundreds of sakura trees that hadn’t bloomed because it wasn’t cherry blossom period yet in Osaka. What a pity but we got that at Ueno Park, Tokyo =). 

Besides Osaka Castle,  you could also find Osakajo hall, Japanese Archery Field, Forest Park, Osaka International Peace Center, Plum Flower Garden and Peach Flower Garden. But still, we have to warn you that this is a extremely huge complex and don’t get lost!

Here is a little bit story of Osaka Castle. In 1496, Honganji temple was built but Ishiyama War happened in 1570 between Honganji temple and Oda Nobunaga who attemped to unify the entire nation. Oda Nobunaga won the war and burnt it to the ground. In 1582, he was killed in a battle at Honnoji temple and Hideyoshi Toyotomi took the authority from Oda Nobunaga (1583). Soon after that, Osaka Castle began to be constructed. In 1585, the main castle was done. Unluckily, in 1598, Hideyoshi Toyotomi died at Fushimi Temple. The new heir was his son, Hideyori Toyotomi. Ieyasu Tokugawa, that was a chief retainer, attacked Osaka Castle in order to take over Hideyori Toyotomi’s power. Attack was started on winter in 1614 and Ieyasu Tokugawa gained his victory on Summer in 1615. Hideyori Toyotomi and his mother, Yodo Dono decided to suicide after being defeated.

Osaka Castle was reconstructed for many times. First, in 1620 by Hidetada Tokugawa. But in 1665, the main tower was strucked by lightning and was destroyed by fire. And because of war between new government army and Tokugawa shogunate army in 1868, Osaka Castle was totally burnt. In 1931, this castle was reconstructed again by the fundraising from citizens of Osaka City. Since then, it was used as military base. It was known as one of the largest military armories with 60.000 workers. During World War II, the main tower was destroyed. About 90% of the arsenal was destroyed and 382 people were killed in this incident. After all that happened, from 1995 to 1997 Osaka government did the reconstruction projects and now Osaka Castle is known as Special Historical Site due to its power of sharing history of unifying entire nation of Japan with Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa as three main roles.

We visited Osaka Castle on March 21nd, 2015 about 1PM. The weather was cool. Really interesting to be here and we could find international tourists all around. Pay 600 yen/person and you are about to enter this awesome museum.

In front of Osaka Castle, we saw a well-named Kimmeisui. Based on the legend, Hideyoshi Toyotomi dropped gold to purify the water inside the well but according to researches, this well was built in Tokugawa period. But still a lot of Japanese and international tourists threw coins into it. We even saw a sheet of 2.000 Indonesian rupiah into it too, not coin. Hahaha.....

Osaka Castle has five stories outside and eight stories inside. First floor provides theater room that explains history of Osaka Castle (with subtitles in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean too), elevator and souvenir shops. The theather room isn’t too big but we think it is just fine due to its function which is just a summary of everything that you could see by exploring museum. Elevator just could take up to 5th floor. We took stairs, better than queueing in a long line for elevator, especially in peak season.

 

What we find most interesting are:

5th floor : Miniature figures of Siege of Osaka. All miniatures are created in awesome details and placed inside big acrylic boxes so you can enjoy well without making a mess.

7th floor : Diorama that contains 19 scenes. It is kind of hologram and you could see it as a short movie scene. A really high technology museum.

8th floor : Observation deck. Its height is 20 metres from here to the ground. We could observe Osaka Castle Park, modern high buildings in Osaka and mountains but due to peak season, we could only enjoyed it for a while.

We won’t talk about how many international tourists that came here. What we found suprisingly was the amount of Japanese visitors. It was superb, especially young people. For us, Osaka Castle Museum is a nice role model that with creativity and new way of thinking, museum could be a fun place to be explored.

After exploring all stories by stairs (*_*), we explored forest park, not all but most part of the park. This place is beautiful but yet so wide. We saw pink plum flowers here. 

When we reach exit gate,we found a tree that was blooming. Saw few of international tourists taking photographs of it, we followed them. Suddenly, Footy was told by an about 40-years old Japanese man, who was just stopped because of our curiosity, that it wasn’t sakura flower. It is peach flower (momo 桃).

He is really friendly and could speak a little bit of English too. Then, we stopped taking photographs, thanked him and headed to next destination.

       

Address          : 540-0002 1-1 Osakajo, Chuo-ku

Opening hours : 9AM – 5PM (last admission 4.30PM)

Admission fee :

Individual        : more than 15 years old  : 600 yen

Group              : 15 people and more       : 540 yen

                          100 people and more     : 510 yen

                          200 people and more    : 480 yen

Website          : www.osakacastle.net

Pay attention   :

-Restroom is on 2nd Floor only.

-Be careful in stepping down the stairs due to huge crowd of visitors, especially in peak season.

-No photographing and video filming inside the museum.

We eat, we walk, we talk

-FoodyFooty2-

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ICOCA : Pass your card and go =)

For paying almost all our transportation during the trip in Japan, we used Prepaid IC Card ICOCA. Footy chose this due to its cute mascot, blue platypus named Iko-chan (イコちゃん). Hahaha..... It is one of the reasons but not really actually. Can’t deny but this blue platypus is the cutest among all the other IC Card mascots.

ICOCA refers to IC Operating CArd. ICOCA uses  RFIC technology  called Felica, developed  by Sony, as SUICA smart card. Nowadays, due to agreements with the other smart cards (Kitaca, PASMO, PiTaPa, Suica, Hayakaken, Nimoca, Namaca, TOICA and SUGOCA), ICOCA becomes smart card that could be used in almost all of our journey in Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara and Tokyo for trains, buses, subways and shopping (find ICOCA logo to know if it is supported). We bought Nankai Airport Express, Port Liner and Shinkansen tickets seperately, by cash.

As what we had posted in our previous post, we arrived at Kansai International Airport (KIX) and directly purchased ICOCA card there. Get to the second floor and you will find ICOCA vending machine and follow the instructions below.

www.westjr.co.jp

To get a new ICOCA card, you need to pay 2.000 yen. 500 yen is for deposit of smart card issuance and 1.500 yen is amount that you can use for trains, subways and buses rides and also shopping. This card is recharge-able. You may use ticket vending machine or smart card recharge machines inside stations.

www.westjr.co.jp

The deposit fee (500 yen) could be returned in case of refund but remained balance will be deducted 220 yen for handling fee. Just bring the card to Ticket Office (Midori no Madoguchi みどりの 窓口) at Greater Osaka area and also prepare your passport as an identity. We didn’t make a refund because we prefer to bring ICOCA home as souvenirs. Beware that it will be expired if it isn’t used in ten years.

This is a more convenient way, better than stuck at choosing which ticket you have to buy. Just tap the smart card to the card reader. After you reach exit gate at your destinated train station, just do the same way. You could also see the final balance on a small screen. In buses, you may find the card reader placed next to bus driver.

For Shinkansen or limited express trains that requires a supplement fee, you can pay base fare using ICOCA but you need to buy a supplement ticket separately at ticket machine or ticket office. We were afraid of getting confused in this stuff so we bought the tickets directly, not using ICOCA.

One thing that you need to pay attention to is that the smart card can’t be used by multiple travelers. You need to buy it in person due to its recording usage history.

www.westjr.co.jp

*click the image to view it bigger

We eat, we walk, we talk

-FoodyFooty2-

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