After an early night, we successfully slept through the night. We weren’t sure how jetlag was going to hit us, being only our second time in Asia, but so far it feels like we kicked it on night one. We did start our day nice and early, but we would have probably done that anyway to try to beat the heat.
Yes, the title is the temperature (38 for those who speak the Queen’s English). No, it is not a dry heat (75% humidity). Yes, home girl struggled today. Yes, we went back to the hotel to cool down three times today.
First stop of the day was Higashi Hongan-ji Temple — this is a Shin Buddhist Temple first built in the 1600s. Over the years many of the buildings were destroyed or burned down, so most of this is a reconstruction. The significance of this particular temple though is this is where the founder of Shin Buddhism started the sect, and it serves as his mausoleum. We were fortunate to be there for an early morning service, and to also be able to wander through the buildings before and after that (barefoot of course, as shoes are not allowed on the traditional flooring in Japan).
By 9am we were already super warm, so back to the hotel to cool down a little bit before heading to the train station to wander to Osaka. Stopping for a donut first, of course. Oh, and we stopped at a store called Don Quixote looking for an umbrella to protect my face from the sun. This store ended up being a super stereotypical, yet quintessential store that you hear about in the movies. Three floors of everything you can think of for trinkets and junk, and every section has a commercial blaring about some (or more than one) product they were selling. It honestly was audio overload.
The train to Osaka was only about 30 minutes, and we headed straight to Osaka Castle. First Japanese castle! Fortunately, I talked Kevin into round trip tickets from the base to the top by electric car rather than the 25 minutes hike up to the castle both ways. It’s literal Hades outside, and if I can pay someone 300Yen ($2 per person each way), it’s over and above worth it compared to me walking it in this heat.
This is a reconstructed castle, but it was a pretty view at the top and gave the traditional view from the outside.
Time to cool off again so we headed to the Lego store, Pokémon Center (apparently an OG) and also the Nintendo store. We are obviously old and remember when the original Pokémon launched in 1996, and it’s crazy how the phenomenon continues 30 years later. Wandering around the store, I could identify the original set, and they have added so many more characters since then.
Train back to Kyoto and ended our day eating a traditional Tonkatsu meal (deep fried breaded pork) — Kevin ordered it with cabbage and rice and I ordered a box with rice, egg and soy sauce. Kevin’s was definitely the better option.
A little early to bed (830) which could be jetlag but probably is the brutal heat and the 22k steps.
