The last fourteen days

It was Christmas day and because it is not celebrated like Christmas is in North America, I decided to go and see Mount Fuji.



Photo Mount Fuji

Unfortuately, I was unable to get to the base because the bus that ran there did not run because there is snow on the mountain. So of course, I decided to walk for about 2 to 3 hours to get as close as I could to Fuji-san which is what the Japanese call the mountain.






Photo Of Mount Fuji after walking 2-3 hours.


On the 26th, I went to Nara which is East of Osaka. This city has a lot of places to visit, I went to the Deer Park where wild deers walk around free.










Photos Around the deer park and of shrines inside the park


Inside the park which is called Nara-Koen has about 1200 deer.
The whole park is embedded in the Kasuga-yama Primeval Forest





Photo of the Forest


I walked around and got to the area where the Todai-ji is however the site was so large that I only got to see some of the Todai-ji




Photos of the area and Todai-ji


It was interesting to see a nursery school outside the Todai-ji in the traditional Japanese house style





Photo of the Nursery school



The 27th I went back to Miyajima and got to see the rest of the remaining part of the island.






Photo O-torri Gate







Photo Five Storey Padoga






Photo of Itsukushima Shrine and the stage inside the Shrine


All of above photos are on the island.


I started to climb the Misen Climbing Path (Omoto Course) and walked through Mt. Misen Primeval Forest.







On the island were wild deers too.





Photo of the deers



Decorations outside a restaurant on the island


Also saw the Senjokaku





Photo of the Senjokaku


Also saw the Miyajima O-Shakushi (World's Largest Wooden Rice Spoon). It is made of the Zelkova tree whose age is 270 years old. It is 7.7 meters long. It was invented on the island.





Photo of the Miyajima O-Shakushi.

The 27th I went around Osaka and saw New Years decoration in shopping malls.




Photo of New Years decorations

and on the 1st I went to the local mall and saw some local musicians playing music.




Photos of Local Musicians playing music


People decorated their homes for New Years an example is




Then on the 2nd I went to Kyoto to the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine with the local Japanese people, as they are celebrating the beginning of a new year. It was interesting to see the tradition of praying for good fortune in the New Year and how the path leading to the Shine was lined with food and game booths.







Photos of the Shrine and booths with candy




Then I went to the Kinkakuji Temple



Photo of the Kinkauji Temple

While in Kyoto I went to Kyoto Station which is 15 stories high and has a skywalk and a garden on top. You can see the Shinkensen train station from the top. On the 3rd I went to a Bunraku performance in Osaka.



Photo of Kyoto Station




Photo of the Skywalk at Kyoto Station



Photo of the garden on top of Kyoto Station



Photo of the Shikensen train station.



Photo of the .Bunraku theatre

Buraku theatre is Puppet Theatre which is a refined form of puppetry in the world. It is a combination of three skills each of which requires many years of training to master. The dolls are about half life size, every part moves and there are three manipulators who work in perfect unison to make the puppet perform.
I saw Hanakurabe Shiki no Kotobuki (The Dance of the Four Seasons), Zoho Chushingura and Kuruwa Bunsho (The Romance in the Gay Quarters). Each is broken into three small components and there are two parts to each play.