Osak-it to me!

When the humans finally woke up in the faraway land they decided that the first thing they wanted and needed to do was ADVENTURE, and so we did.  We climbed into their pouch and our eyes got really really big--this was very definitely a different place than we were used to.  There were lots of moonspeak signs and delicious smells and in every direction we looked, there was something to explore.  Every side street looked like an incredible maze of lights and doors and power lines and funny cars and such.  We could hardly believe the craziness that was all around us.  We started off early in the morning, and surprisingly it seemed like the whole city was still sleeping even though the birds were out.  There were very few people out and about while we wandered--maybe they were scared of the big guy? 

Quiet Osakan side street, riotous to all senses other than the ears.

While we were wandering about, we came upon this very quiet, pastoral, kind-of shriney place.

Mitsu Shrine.  Very shriney!

People came in and out of here very quietly to wash their hands and clap and throw coins into boxes.  There were big giant trees with ropes tied around them and little paper lightning bolts dangling from them--these were very important trees, we figured, and probably did not want to be climbed.  There were big orangey-red torii gates and little box huts that gods lived in...catball-sized gods, maybe, but gods nonetheless.  This is one of the several times we wished we could read the language so we knew more about who lived in these. 


As we adventured some more, we came to another place that was a little more templey than the shrine was.  With a beautiful garden featuring a bunch of little pink flowers, it looked like a pretty good place to romp, but then we saw that this place already had a resident cat.  Catball policy is to not cramp another dude's style, and we abide.

Much respect to the temple nyan, templing like a boss.  We should take notes on how to do it!

Very close to the temple, we came to another shrine, much much bigger than the one before it, with lots of smaller buildings all around on the grounds.  This place was much busier than the previous shrine we saw, and had a good catball perch at the front of it. 

Ikutama Jinja--catball-friendly!

The humans met a nice man tending to the grounds who was very excited to learn that we were from Boston--the man knew a lot about American history as a teacher and, gracefully, did not seem to mind being corrected when he called it the "Boston Tea Ceremony."  We were a little ashamed, really--the man knew so much more about our home than we knew about his, but we definitely want to catch up to him some day!

Lots of bottles and barrels of sake offerings--it must be pretty good to be a deity around these parts.

Inari shrine with kitsune statues standing guard--if you guys need a break, we're up to the task!

After a long day of wandering about looking at beautiful and austere things, our traveling companions decided to bring us to a part of the city called America-mura.  This made no sense to us, as we had just hurtled in a giant pressurized metal tube for 20 hours to NOT be in America, but because they carried the satchel we were in, they made the rules.  It was not really terribly America-ish, though, which was good news.  There were lots of funky record shops and clothing shops and things to explore, and at the end of the night it was finally dinner time!  Now THIS:

Sushi nom!

 

 

 

 

 

THIS is why we came here!