Philosophers Walk and Honen-in temple, Kyoto Japan

Not far from our hotel lay the path known as the Philosophers Walk.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure 12 – Kiyomizu-dera

Kiyomizu-dera temple near Kyoto, Japan.  The temple itself is impressive. As one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto and a UNESCO world heritage site, it hold much historic significance.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure 11 – Kodaiji Temple and Higashiyama area

We took a good long walk through the Kodaiji Temple and Higashiyama and Gion districts. I’ll save Gion for the next post so let’s take a quick look at the temple and Higashiyama area.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure 10 – Kurama-dera

We headed north to the mountains and the Kurama-dera Temple, home of the Tengu Spirits. The surroundings change as we leave Kyoto proper on the train.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure – 9 Japanese Farmhouse Museum

Headed out to the open air farmhouse museum. The museum is set in a large park area which was hard hit by the recent typhoon and damage is much in evidence. The museum farmhouses were fortunately spared.

The tour of the old farmhouses give us a unique glimpse into the lives of rural Japanese life during the late Edo period.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure – 8 Osaka Mint

We walked across the Yodo river in Osaka to the Osaka Mint Museum.

Located on the grounds of the working mint, the museum is housed in a separate western style building which was converted to use as a museum in 1969. Due to the fortunes of fate, a couple of wrong turns, and kismet, we missed the English speaking tour of the museum but elected to take the self guided version.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure 7 – Osaka Castle

Under a slightly grey cloudy sky, we set out to see Osaka Castle. The first thing I was struck by as we approached is the sheer mass of the castle and surrounding grounds.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure – 6 Osaka Markets

We’re in Osaka, Japan for a few days. Today we’ve decided to tour the big markets. Well, a couple of them anyway, there are many, many different markets here. We passed through many different market areas along the way. Making the obligatory stop in Dotonburi at the Glico man sign. Glico is the maker of pocky candy and for reason’s I don’t quite understand, it is tradition for Japanese visitors to stop on the bridge and have a picture taken in the Glico man pose under the sign.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure – 5 Osaka Japan

Left China after a light breakfast and headed across the water to Japan.

Wide-Eyed World Adventure Continues – 2

Another day in Taichung Taiwan. Finished up the meetings early, had a lovely seafood lunch and headed back to the hotel room.

Since it was still quite early (about 2:00 pm local time), Superhubs and I decided to do a bit of urban hiking. We walked along canal street to the National Museum of Natural History.