Voyager Tree

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II.he Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II.

(Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial_Museum)

The Gates of Peace

The museum was established in August 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall (now the International Conference Center Hiroshima [ja]). It is the most popular of Hiroshima’s destinations for school field-trips from all over Japan and for international visitors. 53 million people had visited the museum from its opening in 1955 through 2005, averaging over one million visitors per year. The architect of the main building was Kenzō Tange.

(Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial_Museum)

Unfortunately the main part of the museum was under renivation, but I still saw some haunting images and items. This was a very interesting museum. Makes you think of the horrors humanity is capable of.

A chalk lighthouse standing on Cape Kyogamisaki, the northernmost point of the Kinki region. The lighthouse is one of only six in the country to use a first class lens and has been selected as one of Japan’s three best lighthouses. The lighthouse was erected here on a cliff 140 meters above the sea in 1898. Famous for its scenic beauty, visitors can get a sweeping view of a rias coastline comprised of the deep azure of the Sea of Japan and countless curious-looking stones interwoven with pillars of basalt. The area is also a rich natural habitat where falcons are confirmed to live.

(Ref: https://travel.navitime.com/en/area/jp/spot/02301-1301226/)

I ran into my good friend Marano-son, also taking pictures at this beautiful site.

The next few pictures are of the nearby country side mountains and coast line.

The afternoon adventure ends with the best local ramen in town.

While waiting for my friend to arrive so we can get some dinner and drinks, I enjoyed the amenities of this comfortable airport. There is a very lengthy observation deck/boardwalk with plenty of seating and little tents and shops selling food and drinks. There was live music and a nice, large children’s furniture display where the kids could play. There was also a playground for the children. It was a very nice set up and if you are laid over, this is one of the better airports for it to happen.

Tonight my homie and I stay in Osaka and tomorrow we fly to Bangkok, Thailand.

Awesome Sunset.

Osaka Castle (大坂城 or 大阪城, Ōsaka-jō) is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan’s most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
The main tower of Osaka Castle is situated on a plot of land roughly one square kilometer. It is built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, using a technique called Burdock piling, each overlooking a moat. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from attackers.

(Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle)

In 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi commenced construction on the site of the Ikkō-ikki temple of Ishiyama Hongan-ji.^[4]The basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. Toyotomi wanted to build a castle that mirrored Oda’s, but surpassed it in every way: the plan featured a five-story main tower, with three extra stories underground, and gold leaf on the sides of the tower to impress visitors. In 1585 the Inner donjon was completed. Toyotomi continued to extend and expand the castle, making it more and more formidable to attackers. In 1597 construction was completed and Hideyoshi died the year after. Osaka Castle passed to his son, Toyotomi Hideyori.

In 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his opponents at the Battle of Sekigahara, and started his own bakufu (i.e., shogunate) in Edo. In 1614 Tokugawa attacked Toyotomi in the winter, starting the Siege of Osaka.^[5] Although the Toyotomi forces were outnumbered approximately two to one, they managed to fight off Tokugawa’s 200,000-man army and protect the castle’s outer walls. Ieyasu had the castle’s outer moat filled, negating one of the castle’s main outer defenses.

During the summer of 1615, Hideyori began to restore the outer moat. Tokugawa, in outrage, sent his armies to Osaka Castle again, and routed the Toyotomi men inside the outer walls on June 4.

Osaka Castle fell to the Tokugawa clan, the Toyotomi clanperished, and the castle buildings burned to the ground.^[4]:153In 1620, the new heir to the shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, began to reconstruct and re-arm Osaka Castle. He built a new elevated main tower, five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and assigned the task of constructing new walls to individual samurai clans. The walls built in the 1620s still stand today, and are made out of interlocked granite boulders without mortar. Many of the stones were brought from rock quarries near the Seto Inland Sea, and bear inscribed crests of the various families who contributed them.

Construction of the 5 story tenshu started in 1628 and was completed 2 years later, about the same time the rest of the reconstruction, and followed the general layout of the original Toyotomi structure.^[4]:153-157In 1660, lightning ignited the gunpowder warehouse and the resulting explosion set the castle on fire.

In 1665, lightning struck and burnt down the tenshu.^[4]:157 In 1843, after decades of neglect, the castle got much-needed repairs when the bakufu collected money from the people of the region to rebuild several of the turrets.

In 1868, Osaka Castle fell and was surrendered to anti-bakufu imperial loyalists. Much of the castle was burned in the civil conflicts surrounding the Meiji Restoration.^[4]:157Under the Meiji government, Osaka Castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal (Osaka Hohei Kosho) manufacturing guns, ammunition, and explosives for Japan’s rapidly expanding Western-style military.^[6]In 1931, the ferroconcrete tenshu was built.^[4]:157During World War II, the arsenal became one of the largest military armories, employing 60,000 workers.^[6] Bombing raids targeting the arsenal damaged the reconstructed main castle tower and, on August 14, 1945, destroyed 90% of the arsenal and killed 382 people working there.

In 1995, Osaka’s government approved yet another restoration project, with the intent of restoring the main tower to its Edo-era splendor. In 1997, restoration was completed. The castle is a concrete reproduction (including elevators) of the original and the interior is intended as a modern, functioning museum.

(Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle)

This is an awesome place and a ton of tourists are here daily. Beautiful site.

Hokoku Shrine was erected under the edict of Emperor Meji and is dedicated to those three great benefactors of the Japanese nation, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Toyotomi Hideyori, and Toyotomi Hidenga. Sharing the good fortune of the Toyotomi clan, Hokoku Shrine offers a charm of success to visitors coming to pray for good luck and prosperity. The statue at the shrine enterance is of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was crafted by the foremost Japanese sculptor, Shinya Nakamura.

(Ref: Hokoku Shrine pamphelt)

The hotel imitates the grandeur of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, and captures the Austrian royal court atmosphere that flourished at its cultural peak. Entering the hotel, guests will feel as if they have entered the graceful world of an Austrian royal palace, where nobles and dignitaries relax in comfort and luxury.
The rooms combine a refined elegance with modern practical amenities for a relaxing and comfortable stay.

Ref: https://www.hotelmonterey.co.jp/en/osaka/

I found this hotel on booking.com and no idea how awesome it was until the morning I left. I had this enjoyable anxiety as if I was staying in the hotel from “The Shinning.” This was an awesome place and I wil probably stay here again in the future.

As usual, like all of my stay in Japanese hotels, the breakfast buffet was amazing! The location is right by Osaka Station and close to many restaurants, bars and tourist attractions. I would recommend this hotel to anyone who enjoys this type of old world architecture and art.

This is a ferris wheel in a mall on the 7th floor, right by Osaka Station.

I

ppudo Ramen Restaurant, right by the ferris wheel. The ramen here was amazing! ❤🇯🇵

A preist had been leading an ascetic life and training himself as a Buddhist at a thatched hermitage in the mountain. In the winter of that year, the snow lay so deep that he had no visitors from the village below, nor did he find any means to get something to eat. Finally, he ran out of food and nearly died.

He prayed and entreated the principal image of Buddha in the temple for the mercy that Buddha gave him food in charity on which he could live, even a day longer. Being half asleep and half awake, he found a deer on the ground outside, injured by a wolf. Though he was worried and hesitated about meat eating, which was forbidden to priests, he decided to cut off some flesh, both of the legs of the deer were boiled in a pot, so he would not have to starve to death by means of eating it. He ended up eating it at last, despite the commandment that priests should not eat meat.

In the meantime, it was getting warmer and warmer, and the snow melted away. The villagers below began to climb up the mountain to visit the temple, as usual, in order to pray before the image of the Buddha. Then, they found that the legs of the wooden statue of Buddha were cut off, and many small pieces of wood were scattered in a pot. They informed the priest if this at once. Being informed of it, the priest realized that Kanin (the Merciful Goddess) sacrificed herself and acted as a substitute for him, picking up the pieces of wood so as to fix the statue. Strangely enough, the principal image of Buddha was restored to it’s original state, as it was. Two kanjis (two Chinese characters) used in the name “Nariai” of the temple means that when anyone has his wish to be completed, he will have his wish granted if only he offers a prayer and makes a vow to the principal image of Buddha at this temple.

This temple belongs to Shingon Sect of Buddhism. At present, there are many groups of Buddhism in Japan. Shingon Buddhism is one of them. It was founded in Japan by Kukai (posthumous title: Kobe Daishi) in 806 A.D., who studied esoteric Buddhism transmitted from India at Chang-an, the capital of Tang China. It’s center, at first, the Toji Temple in Kyoto, was later transferred to Mt. Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, and from there Kukai propagated Shingon esoteric Buddhism. The religious activities initiated then, centering on Mt. Koya, have continued today.

(Ref: temple pamphlet)

“The temple bell which has never been or will be struck”

In the 14th year of keichyo (1609), Kenchyo, a priest collected votive offerings of money, so that he could raise funds for the project to replace the old bell with the new one. He failed in casting the bell twice when he began campaign for the funds to it for the third time and asked for the contribution of the neighboring surroundings and villages, a housewife in a house, which was fine and looked wealthy, said “since we have many children to bring up, we can’t afford to make a donation to the temple,” and refused flatly.

On the day when the metal was casted into the bell, watch how the bell was made. Among them was the said housewife looking at it, holding her baby in her arms. By mistake, she dropped her baby into the fiery melted copper, like boiling water. When the finished bell, involving such a sad and miserable accident in the course of completion, was struck, it rang beautifully all over the mountain and the beautiful sound of the bell could be heard in the villages nearby. But when people listened eagerly, they seemed to hear the baby crying sadly for it’s mother. People felt such pity for the mother and her baby that they decided never to strike this bell since then, wishing that the baby’s soul might Rest In Peace and arrive at the blissful state.

This is the ground that this temple bell has never been or will probably never be struck forever. The name of this bell is based in the legend.

(Ref: Temple pamphlet)

Although the weather was pretty crapp, this was an amazing site and beautiful observatory. This short day trip ends with a delicious bowl of ramen and gyoza (dumplings).