Osaka Castle

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

Osaka castle is quite possibly the most impressive thing I have ever seen.
Even though the one we got to tour is a reconstruction, and the inside a museum, it's still beautiful.

It's surrounded by several raised platforms, and sits atop the highest one. It's also guarded by a moat.
Over the course of history the castle has burned down and been rebuilt several times. The last reconstruction was ordered because it was damaged during a bombing in 1945.

Homestay Garden

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

My homestay "mom" has a really nice little garden.
You'd never guess this place has only about two feet of width to it between the fence and the house.
Japan is really great for that - any spare space people have they use wisely, and most of the time that means they fill it with plants.

Zen

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

One of the places we went in Kyoto was to a famous Zen temple - wall to wall gardens.
It was like walking through paradise - there was even a lake (sadly because it hadn't rained in a long while it was mostly empty, but there were still a few giant koi hanging around and a heron or two. They weren't very photogenic, mind you.

This is just a close-up of the small rocks in the zen garden itself.
There were six large boulders set into moss "islands", all surrounded by raked stones.

Kyoto Photos

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

These pictures are from various areas around Kyoto (mostly in temples)
I absolutely LOVE the old-fashioned roofs that are still around Japan (some of the older houses still have them, too) The tiles are gorgeous. And pretty big, too.

The trees are also really cool.
The twisted looking one in the top photo is one of the ones I liked the best. They grow naturally twisted up - most of them are trimmed to make the leaves look rounded, but I like the wilder ones.

Waterlillies

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

This picture was taken in Hiroshima's absolutely breathtaking Peace Park.
The park is lovely: flat, covered in trees and spots to sit, beautiful monuments, and full of kids ALL the time. Which is adorable, because Japanese schoolchildren are SO much better behaved than Canadian ones!
It's located directly around the epicenter where the atomic bomb was dropped, which meant we also got to see the atomic dome - the only building to survive the bombing (it's quite the sight to see - melted bricks and metal scaffolding really make you sit back and think)

These beauties were growing in the pond around the bell of peace.
If you look closely you can see the hidden finned surprise (but only in the close-up with the single lilly)
There were teeny tiny fish swimming in the pond.

1000 paper cranes

Oh my goodness.
It only took me forever and a day to get around to posting photos from my trip to Japan.
Sorry for the delay, everyone...!

This picture was taken in Hiroshima's absolutely breathtaking Peace Park.
The park is lovely: flat, covered in trees and spots to sit, beautiful monuments, and full of kids ALL the time. Which is adorable, because Japanese schoolchildren are SO much better behaved than Canadian ones!
It's located directly around the epicenter where the atomic bomb was dropped, which meant we also got to see the atomic dome - the only building to survive the bombing (it's quite the sight to see - melted bricks and metal scaffolding really make you sit back and think)

All of the monuments are dedicated to peace. Two of the ones that Kim and I found on our trek through the park are for children who were injured or died because of the bombing.
One is an angel, with doves flying above her head, and the other is a bell with a golden paper crane hanging from it.
This picture was taken at the Angel statue, where these thousands (and I kid you not when I say thousands) of cranes were hanging from hooks.
It's a japanese myth: as the story goes, complete 1000 paper cranes and your wish will come true.

Kids make paper cranes in strings of 1000 and bring them to the park. They're in memory of a little girl named Sadako, who died of leukemia at the age of 11 not long after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. When she found out she was sick she completed 1000 paper cranes in hopes she would get better.

Needless to say, Kim and I were teary-eyed while we wandered around.
The real kicker (that made us have to go find something to dry our eyes after a whopping round of crying) was when the classes of grade schoolers brought their cranes to the other statue - the one dedicated to Sadako herself, and any other children killed in war. Not only do they leave their cranes at the statue, but they either sing or play music.
Talk about leaking.
Mom can be proud knowing she's passed on the leaky gene to me, too.