Hello!

I hope everybody is alright.
I'm back from my short Osaka trip and it was SO REFRESHING AND RELAXING!!! The best thing I could have done! I'm so glad I went!
I enjoyed 2 stage plays with Ikuta Toma (I'll write in detail about those in a separate entry soon!). I met kanefunnn and we had a lot of fun, eating yummie food and talking a lot!
In those two days I was completely cut off of any news and I almost completely forgot what happened. Life in Osaka as well, went on as normal, it was great!

I left early in the morning on Thursday and arrived in Osaka around noon time. I had a quick lunch sitting in front of Osakajou Hall and then I went off to watch the stage play which took over 3 hours! Then I spent the rest of the day with kanefunnn
In my hotel (super tired) I quickly checked out options for the next day because the other stage play wouldn't start before 7pm, enough time for some sightseeing. The "problem" was that I've already been to pretty much everything in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Kobe. I wanted to go to Amanohashidate (again!), but as I only had half a day, that would have been too short. In the end I decided to go to Uji in Kyoto (famous for its green tea ) and it was great!!
I took some photos in Osaka as well as in Uji to show you how normal life in the rest of Japan is! I hope that calms a few people down, though, things seem to have calmed down anyways?!
Enjoy!

Osaka (March 17th 2011) + Uji (March 18th 2011):



The theater was right next to Osaka Castle! And you know how much I love taking photos of gullies, right? XD



It was freaking cold, it even snowed in the morning!! It was also grey and cloudy and I still felt exhausted because of the recent events.
After watching the stage play I felt better, though, after over 3 hours I needed some fresh air!



After meeting kanefunnn we walked around in Osaka Castle Park a bit. There were millions of plum trees in full bloom! So beautiful!



So many different colors. From white to extreme vivid pink! Some of them looked like cherry blossoms to me! ^-^;



And Osaka Castle always in the background :)





The moon was so beautiful as well. Unfortunately I had only one lense on me, so I couldn't zoom more, but sooo beautiful!



The sky was also very beautiful that day!



I was really happy to be able to take photos of so many beautiful plum blossoms as I was too busy and later on too exhausted to go anywhere in the past few days, so this was a perfect chance!! Yay! ^-^



I haven't been so close to Osaka Castle since 2007! Wow, long time no see, huh?!



Awesome color! I wish I had a garden with plum and cherry trees and some Japanese maple trees for fall as well ^^;





The sky color was getting more and more beautiful!



The sunset displayed some interesting colors on the walls of Osaka Castle.





So beautiful!





The museum next to the castle. I've never been in there, though!
It looks like a school to me.
It's funny that this photo still looks like it's bright daylight, huh? XD



And then it was quickly getting dark .... and cold!! So we decided to leave and eat dinner somewhere :)



Osaka means of course yummie Okonomiyaki! This was a special type and I forgot the name of it. It's different from okonomiyaki but it tasted just as good!



After talking for hours, relaxing at Starbucks and having fun it was time to go back to the hotel.
As I didn't even know until the night before if I could go to Osaka or if it would be too dangerous (especially because there was an earthquake the day before) I didn't plan ANYTHING AT ALL!!! So I had to research for sightseeing options - of course I also could have gone shopping in Osaka, but I didn't want to waste the great weather ;P
I decided to go to Uji in Kyoto.



I got up early, but not too early and stopped by a Chinese temple next to my hotel.





Rush hour in the morning at a small local station. Osaka station was much more crowded, of course ;)



Arrived shortly before noon in Uji. Interesting postbox in front of the station.



Uji Station. (That's the JR station, just so you know there's also a Keihan Station not too far away if you prefer to use them)



Uji is also famous for The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari as some chapters take place in Uji).



Uji is also famous for its very old bridge.



Uji bridge in the background.







There were a lot of cute and interesting shops, most of them featuring green tea as Uji is mostly famous for its green tea!!



My first destination of that day was Byodo-in Temple (World Heritage). Entrance fee is 600yen which also includes the entrance fee for the museum on the temple grounds.



The famous Phoenix Hall is inside of that building. A tour is held every 20 minutes and costs another 300yen. Of course I did that and it was very interesting :D (no photos of the interior are allowed, though)









The temple from many different angles and perspectives.



In front of the museum's entrance is this huge bell, but you're not allowed to ring it! ;)



The museum's entrance.
I wasn't sure if photos were allowed inside of the museum, so I didn't take any photos. They had some really interesting old figures from the original temple building and lots of explanations in English! :)



Back outside. It was getting sunnier, yay!





Spotted plum blossoms again.







The main temple building is really old as you can see. In the background you can see a phoenix statue.



If you take the phoenix hall tour for 300yen, you'll walk over that red bridge to get to the interior of the temple building.
There's a huge buddha statue inside.



It was finally time to leave as there were still other things I wanted to see .... and I was getting hungry, so ...



I decided to eat Chasoba (green tea noodle soup). I was really hungry, so I took a set with oyakodon :D
It was very yummie!!!



They offer all sorts of chasoba! Cold and hot. Even my lunch you could have eaten with cold soba, but because it was so cold outside, I went for hot soba ^^;



Moving on. There are many bridges!



Birds and bridge.



The water flow was really strong!



So strong that I got to see some tiny whirlpools, but I was too slow to take a good shot! :/



As the water flow was quite strong and thus dangerous there were cute and funny warning signs EVERYWHERE! ^^;





Time stands still. Timeflow?



I was wondering what those ... things in the trees were. Nests maybe?!



Everything around the river is connected via small and big bridges, most of them are red!



Small shells next to the riverbank.







At night (like in many Japanese cities with large rivers) they do comorant fishing! One day I wanna observe that!



And it seems they use those boats for it.



Huge stone pagoda.



You could also take a boat tour.



The people in the boat were all eating. I wonder what kind of food they were offered. I suppose fish and green tea? ^^;
As you can see Uji City is really a good place to take it easy and relax! :)







Time check.



I told you! Red bridges everywhere ^^;







Genji Monogatari statues (and a red bridge in the background ^^; ...)



In front of Uji Shrine.





I liked the fact that there was a mirror next to the pond.



Also, to have a rabbit instead of a dragon is quite rare. At least I haven't seen many rabbit ponds yet!!



Still at Uji Shrine.



Yah, well, I guess that goes without saying?! XD





Next, I went to Eshinin Temple.





Small but really beautiful. There were two old ladies praying and then having a break. They offered me food, but I politely declined. People in Kansai are REALLY nice! :)











Although it was a really small temple, I couldn't stop looking around. I found tiny things here and there and took way too many photos! ^^;















I told you that there were a lot of funny and cute warning signs! XD



And not only about the river!





Next I went to Koshoji Temple.
It's a little bit farther away from the rest of the main attractions, but still not too far! From the entrance (that you can see on the photo) to the actual temple building it's a 5 min. walk!













A beautiful garden ...



... with many flowers.





On my way back. So many nice houses! :)





Another warning sign.



The city flower was everywhere on the pavement.



There are a lot of small temples and shrines in that area.



A special vending machine as it only offers products from Uji!!



Expensive, but I bought one!!! ^-^





Next was Ujikami Shrine (don't confuse with Uji Shrine). Ujikami Shrine is also a World Heritage.





Wash your mouth and your hands there. Never seen a "pond" like that before.





The main building.
I'm so stupid! As I didn't plan my trip at all, I also forgot my seal book!!! I sooooooo wanted a seal of Byodo-in and this temple in my seal book!!!! Boohooo~ ;o;



In front of "The Tale of GENJI" museum. This is really only something you should consider doing if you know the story. As I didn't, the museum wasn't that interesting to me. Furthermore I was running short on time.
I needed to return to Osaka (as I still wanted to go to the Johnnys Shop there before the stage play started ... yah, yah, I'm horrible I know XD)
No photos from inside the museum as I wasn't sure if it was allowed or not.



On my way back I walked across the huge Uji Bridge.



I had a nice talk with the lady of the small tourist information center next to the station. We were talking about what happened and that we're safe here and stuff.
It's really interesting to see how natural I can talk about daily things although I haven't studied any Japanese since the beginning of December. I should really go back to my studies, mooo~



Of course I also bought some green tea in Uji. Sencha in a cute bunny box.



Aracha (荒茶) and Karigane (Kukicha made from Gyokuro)



I made it on time back to Osaka and to the Johnny Shop! I feared that it might be crowded as it was Friday evening, but it wasn't. Lucky!!~
I grabbed the few Ikuta Toma photos they had and some Arashi photos ^-^



I even had a few minutes left so that I could eat something proper before the stage play!! Yay~



After the stage play I went straight back. Arrived in my hotel around 11pm. I wanted to take night shots of Osaka Castle, but it would have gotten too late then. Had to get up VERY early the next morning.
My room was extremely cold and it took forever to get warm ;o;



Small things here and there still reminded you of what has happened.



I got up around 6am the next morning, had a quick breakfast and then left Osaka. I arrived at my station, rushed back home, had 10 minutes to take a shower and change clothes and then RUSH to work. What a day!!! It was hectic, but I was happy ^-^
Also, I met some foreigners who got off at my station which is really rare! Then I heard them talk in German, so I asked them if by any chance they live around here (that would have been WONDERFUL!!!! ;__; ...) but no, they only came for sightseeing.
Eh, sightseeing? In my small town?? UWOAH! And what's more is they came from Tokyo! They're tourists they don't live in Japan! I guess they were running away and now making full use of their railpass? Still I was happy they decided to come sightseeing to my small town ^-^
I wanted to offer them my help, but I had to rush to work, so I just gave them some quick tips and was off.
They also seemed quite nervous/surprised that I just started talking to them out of nowhere. That's how desperate I already am, I guess XD I mean .. I've been here for over 3 years and I rarely see ANY foreigners here and if I do they're NEVER German!!!! ... *lol*
[/small rant]

Well, as you can see I've completely calmed down for now.
This trip was great! Things seem to have calmed down in general. I think and I hope they'll get the other reactors under control soon. They even found some people alive in the disaster zone. That's so great! ;o;
I think it's too early to say things are safe, but I stopped worrying for now and it feels good!
So many people I know left the country in the last few days, some were forced to by their companies or Embassies, it seems. (though you always can reject! )
I won't leave this country unless it's really necessary. I would have left Tokyo if I lived there and moved further to the Southwest of Japan as some people did. That's still cheaper and less drastic than buying an expensive plane ticket.
Funny thing is that some people who told me that I'm panicking to much have left the country already while I'm still here! XD
Anyways, hope everybody is doing fine and thanks so much for caring so much!!! ^_____^ You guys are GREAT!!!!