WELCOME
A place where I note down littles of my life to share with my dear friends. 
Continued from the previous post.......
Day 6: Osaka Dotombori, American Mura, Osaka aquarium and hep five ferris wheel
Dotombori is famous for its huge colourful signboards like the gaint squid, puffer fish and crab.
The takoyaki in Japan is delicious, with huge portion of octopus in the soft takoyaki. 
The okonomiyaki in Japan is so different from the one sold in Singapore pasar malam. You have to enter the restaurant, wait while they prepare in front of you fresh on the teppanyaki. We spotted a cute chef in the restaurant..hee. I love Japan's okonomiyaki !
Next is American Mura, which is just a few streets down from Dotombori. Not much to look at except if you love fashion clothes. Osaka aquarium is our next destination. There is a huge tank in the aquarium which extends up to 3 storey high, housing a gigantic whale, stingray and some sharks and fishes. The huge crabs as below. Looks delicious...haha
The lightings ouside the aquarium...
We then went back to nearby osaka station to take the HEP five ferris wheel. It is unique as the ferris wheel is on top of the HEP five shopping centre and we enter it on a storey in the centre.
Umeda floating garden observatory is another good place for night scenery. Two 40 storey high towers connect at the top to have this garden. However,you have to walk quite a distance from the station before arriving there. The Osaka castle is visible from the top also.
Day 7 : Nishi hongwangji, Kiyomizu, Sanjusengendo and gion corner
This day, we stayed in Kyoto to explore. The 1st shrine we went to is free admission and near to our ryokan. This is the Nishi Hongwanji shrine.The shrine was huge and beautiful. 
We then took the kyoto city bus to Sanjusengendo, another historical shrine. I highly recommend this shrine to you if you go free and easy. Package tour do not bring you there. Its famous for its 1001 life-sized guanyin standing in the hall. A huge guanyin is standing in the middle of the hall. Very grand!!
Beautiful scenery in the garden of Senjusengendo.
We spotted a okonomiyaki stall on our way to Kiyomizudera and went in for our lunch, coz we missed it so much after eating it in Osaka. After our fill, we walked up the slope to Kiyomizudera. Along the way, there will be lots of stalls selling food and souvenirs for you to shop.
Just outside Kiyomizudera. 
Beside Kiyomizudera, there is another famous shrine (which I cannot remember the name) for blessing relationships and weddings. There are 2 stones in the shrine, which if a person can walk straight from one stone to the other, will have smooth relationship with his/her partner. 
Kiyomizudera hall, built with supporting beams and without a single nail used.
Along the path in Kiyomizudera
We queue up to drink the spring water, which is thought to blessed us. 
Next, to try out our luck, we went down to Gion corner hoping to catch a glimpse of geisha or miko there. Its not a easy place to find as it is hidden inside the small streets. 
We walked around for a while, but did not spot any geisha and maiko. Just as we were about to leave, a geisha came out from one of the house and we immediately follow her along the way to the theatre where she will perform. She was walking so fast that we had a hard time catching up with her. 
We couldn't believe our luck, we saw another geisha again.
It was a fruitful trip down to Gion corner.
Day 8: Higashi honganji, Kinkakuji, Nara deer park, todaiji temple
This morning, we went to Higashi honganji shrine, also near to our ryokan. It looks similar to the Nishi hongwangji shrine as it is its sister shrine. 
Then we went on to Kinkakuji ( the golden pavilion). The pavilion is very grand, with the beautiful garden around it. It makes me feel like I am in a perfect drawing.
The golden phoenix above the golden pavilion.
The mini-waterfall in the garden.
After a heavy lunch, we took a train down to Nara for the Todaiji temple. It is famous for its history of a thousand years and free roaming deers in front of the temple. The temple is the largest I have seen so far, standing in an open field and with unique horns on the roof. It is huge because it needs to house a gigantic buddha in the temple, together with guanyin and other large gods.
There are a lot of deer poos on the ground which we had to avoid stepping on them :)
I managed to have a photo with a deer.
I recommend anyone going to kyoto to make a halfday trip to Nara for this temple. Its a captivating sight to see the huge temple.
Day 9: Kyoto to Tokyo and Shinjuku
This day, we bid farewell to Kyoto. I miss kyoto so much. While on the platform waiting for the hikari shinkansen train, I took a photo of the pointed-shaped head of the nozomi train. 
The bento I had on the bullet train.
The bullet is so comfortable, with the interior like in an aeroplane, but with a lot of leg space.
After reaching tokyo, we went to shinjuku. 2 singers were promoting their group album on the streets, which is common in Japan.
The night scene in Shinjuku is good because of all the large neon signboards. 
We had a walk along the streets before going to Takashimaya for a look. It is no different from the one in Singapore, selling all the high end fashion goods. Upon reaching Ikebukuro station to go back to house ikebukuro, we saw this large disney poster on the platform, which is so cute. 
Last 3 days to be continued in the next post.......