Water clock in front of Osaka station south building. It drops down water every so often in both designs as well as the current time.

Got a chance to visit the Inari Grand Shrine. As the goddess (sometimes god) of prosperity, companies will donate to the shrine in order to have a gate built, then have a second smaller replica in their office. It's supposed to link the two and bring good luck to the company. A lot of people don't believe it anymore, but it's considered good form and expected.

Kiyomizudera. I'm really glad I got to make it back to the temple that I visited years ago. The view of Kyoto can't be beat either. 

It's amazing how ubiquitous shrines and temples are here in Kyoto. To the point where some are treated like a parking lot.

Got a chance to stop by Vinos Yamazaki, a wine distributor in Japan that sells wine from Monterey County. A largely successful business in a country that largely doesn't drink wine.

The Kobe city scape at evening. It was amazing how close the forest was to all of this.

One of the waterfalls coming off of Mt. Rokko. It was so peaceful up in the mountains. Kobe was really close, but it felt like we were miles away from any city.

He demanded to come to the mountain with us, even running to get all of his bug catching equipment. Then promptly ko'd on the way there.

Port of Kobe and Harbor Land. Kobe's version of Fisherman's Warf. It was amazing to visit during the 92 degree weather after walking around all day. It's supposed to be one of the best date spots in the area because at night the whole area is lit up. During the day it's just an amazing refuge from the heat due to air conditioning and sea breezes.

China Town in Kobe. One of the most famous China Towns in Japan, but it's really just a couple streets lined in restaurants. I could spend so much money on food there though.

Another Inari Shrine behind the main shrine. Excited to visit the main shrine in Kyoto, with the road leading up to it lined in torri gates. 

Met my Japanese partners in Kobe, and went to Ikuta Shrine nearby the train station. This played host to a famous wedding recently, then the couple ended up divorcing. It happens. It was originally built during the 3rd century AD according to legend, and is one of the oldest shrines in Japan.

Tenjin Matsuri! Due to the ridiculous number of people that attended this year, it was impossible to actually see the fireworks, so in our wandering around I saw this view of Osaka Castle. Unfortunately I wasn't able to actually get a stable picture because a security guard was trying to keep traffic flowing and shouting at anybody who stopped.

All ready for the festival. She wasn't sitting still, so this was the best I got. Looked adorable in her yukata. She's so close to crawling, if only she can get that leg out of the way.

Continuing with the city covers: Osaka. This one is a picture of Osaka Castle, and one of the randomly colored covers.

Batman comes out the day before I leave. Seriously wondering about going. Kai would love it when he's older but now it'd be way too scary.

Why is this famous? Outside of one of the department stores in downtown Osaka, this is a site where tourist to Osaka, both foreign and native Japanese come to take pictures. I don't get why.

One of the photo opp locations in Osaka. It mirrors the much larger one a block away.

Who doesn't love poisonous fish? Apparently it has become legal to sell without a license as long as it is purchased from a person licensed to prepare it and remove the poison. However this has caused a lot of problems for those that have been certified for decades who view it as an invalidation of their work.

The shop we went into making these kept offering free samples, and I felt bad not buying anything afterwards. They were pretty delicious.

It got my ateention.

A few more phone pictures. Arima is famous for the naturally occurring carbonated water that fills their hot springs. Originally thought to be poisonous (it tastes horrible straight out of the ground) it's now used in not just the springs, but also to make a special local cider.

i don't know what you are, but you make me damn glad I'm leaving in a week. These things were massive. Just hatched (the lower picture) but still scary as hell. This was the first time my host parents had seen them newly hatched, and there were a lot out tonight. 

He kept shouting, "I want to do it again!" So we kind of had to lie and say we were out of them so he'd stop shouting...

Leave everything on manual and forget to turn on flash + hand over camera = this. There's only so much recovering in Lightroom can accomplish.

For a child that was extremely excited about playing with fireworks, he was oddly scared of them. He wouldn't use someone else's already lit sparkler to light his own because he didn't want to put his hands that close.

Naturally occurring carbonated water (that tastes terrible by itself) with a high mineral content turns everything it comes in contact to this orange color. Drainage ditches along the street were all seemingly rusted out despite being made of concrete.

Hot water spring, set in the mountains, and a religious reverence for the two. Not a bad summary of Arima.

This scaffolding reminded me a lot of oil drilling rigs. Which is interesting, because Arima is one of the original places in Japan to find onsen, without drilling. Modern discoveries have proven that onsen can be created most anywhere in Japan due to the high level of volcanic activity if people are willing to dig deep enough to reach the water.

Part Two in my ongoing segment of awesome man hole covers. This one for the Kobe area, with the cable car to symbolize Mount Rokko, as that is the main way besides hiking around the mountain.

The view headed up to one of the shrines. Over looked a temple, mountains, and central Japan.

The Onsen Shrine. It's protector deity is a turtle, which is also essentially the mascot for the area as a result. 

Japanese people often place towel on their heads when in onsen. Having been in one and doing so, I don't really understand the benefit of doing so, but it's what some people do.

Arima. Best known for its hot springs or onsen that were favored by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan's unifiers. Set on the northern face of Rokko Mountain, it is on the opposite side of Kobe and faces out over central Japan.

Thank you to Osaka LeafCup for accepting me so readily as an employee, and giving me the chance to meet a lot of people from all walks of life. It has been a really fun experience, and ended all too quickly.

This picture gives no idea as to scale, but I was able to stand in it with plenty of clearance.

These hanging decorations were originally used by sake producers to announce when they had finished brewing for the year and sake was finally available for purchase. Once companies were able to produce virtually year-round, they became signs of sake companies and placed outside the offices of these companies.

These casks would carry the water from miles away to be used in the production of Nishinomiya sake. Like all alcohol production processes, the water used is important (or at least advertised as being important). Due to this water, 25% of all sake in Japan is produced in the Nishinomiya-Kobe area.

A family company that has been in business since 1663. They were making sake when people were still walking around with swords and the shogun was in power. The museum was a really interesting display of the original production process for sake.

Got lost in Osaka but eventually made my way back to a place I knew. Too bad everything was closing.