This morning we took the train out near Osaka Zoo and walked up the Janjan Yokocho market street.
Billiken was there.
Jan, jan, jan, jan, jan, jan, jakka-jan.
Some soft-shelled turtles in a tank. They're supposed to be high in collagen.
A shooting gallery.
A bigger Billiken, with that classic motto, "Things as they".
A pyramid of takoyaki.
The biggest Billiken. He's all over this street.
The Triple "X" Cafe. I don't get it.
The famous Tsuutenkaku tower.
More pain, more therapy. The Thai way.
Some coily dudes.
Mom didn't like this overpass. It was too narrow for her.
Here we are at the great big Isshin-ji Temple.
It's got a golden spire.
The main gate is very modern looking. It was added in 1997, and has two bronze Nioh statues.
The doors on the gate.
"Don't forget 3-11", a memorial for the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
A bunch of candles for the lighting of incense.
This place was very smoky.
Okotsu butsu, or bone Buddhas. These images of Nyorai are each made with the ashes of over 100,000 devotees.
This temple makes a new statue every ten years.
A pair of Jizo.
Like a billion paper cranes.
The temple also had an enormous cemetery.
A very cute little Jizo.
The Sanzenbutsu-do, which contains about 1000 golden Buddhas.
The main hall has a large tempera painting of Buddhas.
It also has the Twelve Heavenly Generals arranged in a circle. They are the protective deities of the Buddha of healing, and each has a symbol of one of the twelve zodiac animals.
This is Kimbhira, the rat.
Vajra, the ox.
Mekhira, the tiger.
Antila, the rabbit.
Anila, the dragon.
Santhila, the snake.
Indala, the horse.
Payila, the sheep.
Mahala, the monkey.
Cidala, the rooster.
Caundhula, the dog.
And Vikala, the boar.
Then we walked through the park by the Osaka zoo. All the icons had cats instead of people.
The maps were all shaped like animals.
The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, having a Vermeer exhibition.
A bunch of cat people.
We got some soup dumplings for lunch.
And bao with a slab of chashu.
Then we visited Shitennoji Temple, Japan's oldest official temple. It was founded in 593.
There were 181 of these little bronze guys.
The wheel of fortune.
Lots of turtles hanging out in the rain.
Super cute tanuki and kitsune donuts.
Then we came to the Osaka Museum of History, attached to the NHK Museum of Broadcasting.
There was a lot of information about royalty.
It gave a pretty good view of the city, too.
Scenes of daily life in the old city. These guys are arguing over rice, which was used to pay taxes in those days.
Hauling vegetables for the market.
Rowing the long boats.
An old form of entertainment, you can peek into the holes to see moving pictures.
A Gozabune style pageant float, used in the Autumn Festival at Wakamatsu Shrine from 1789-1801.
A model of an old theatre.
Old puppets used in bunraku, traditional Japanese puppet theatre.
You can push the levers to make the eyes and mouth move.
A cute wise monkey incense holder.
More modern times.
Shrine offerings of fish and rice.
Hatsutatsu-neko.
An old fashioned ice cream maker!
A funny-looking ashtray.
A picture from the NHK side of the building.
Here's Osaka Castle.
A good view from the 8th floor.
A Fukuko, or tiger watching for game.
A shachi-gawara, or roof tile shaped like a fish with a tiger's face.
Try on a samurai helmet.
Yakisoba and okonomiyaki for dinner.
The sign for the light show on the castle grounds.
All lit up at night.
It was a cute little story.
Pulpo, who is an octopus and a microphone.
Mariposa, the butterfly joy spirit.
These rock guys were funny.
Mom with Mariposa face.
Me with Pulpo face.
Gram with Balun face.
Smile into the trees to create joy lights.
Our commemorative photo.
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