ABC Craft Store

  I found ABC craft store.   it was a lot like JoAnns or Michaels.  I found a blog with what I thought was a pic of the building.  So I went to every floor and the store wasn't there.   I finally asked someone on the 6th floor where it was and she said it was at the Q mall.  You go out the door and turn right.   I asked her how to spell Q and she said Q.  To my credit some of the mall is spelled cues.   

The store is on the third floor. I don't know where the blogger went but it didn't seem like there were 5 floors to me.   Maybe it is the sister store in Tokyo.   

People were spending a lot of money on yarn.   I would say the equivalent of a kitchen garbage bag.   Most skeins are 40 to 50 gm.  I found acrylic yarn in larger skeins that came from Turkey.   They only had three colors ecru, lavender, and maroon.  The maroon was okay I almost bought that but they had Noro yarn on sale 40% off.   So I bought that instead.   It looks pretty cool to me.  We will see how it works up.   

They had 12 registers open and there were two lines of people about 10 deep.   After I took a bunch of pictures I saw a sign that said no pictures.   So sorry!!!

This reminds me of the yarn Grandma Richards used to make rugs.

Lucky Garden

Lucky Garden is over the Ikoma road on the other side of the mountain.  They grow a lot of their own vegetables and everything is super fresh.

The restaurant is very in tune with nature.  All the benches and chairs are wood.  There is even a sheep petting zoo.

This was the flower arrangement on our table.  Simple yet beautiful.

I love the wooden top post it is like a circular staircase.

This is a view of the city of Nara from the top of the mountain.

This is lunch.  Curried pork, saffron rice in the shape of pyramid, and a sweet pumpkin curry.  The salad was mixed greens with a mustard vinegarette.  It was superb.  Thanks, Birdie for introducing me to your favorite restaurant!

Road to Ikoma

Road to Ikoma

Birdie told me the mountains are closer than you think.  So I hopped on my bike and road east past Hanazono Park and went uphill.  I got to this small shrine and my stomach started gurgling.  The mountains in the background are very close.  

They had this rock lantern or cairn as my ancestors would have said.

Osaka Dotombori

Osaka Dotombori

I was riding my bike around looking for America Mura, Den Den, and Shinsaibashi when I stumbled on Dotombori.  The little boy in the picture is imitating the Glico man a very famous sign in Osaka.  Glico man has his hands raised in sporting victory.  He is 70 years old and 33 meters tall.

The Ebisu bridge I am standing on leads across the canal.  On either side of the bridge is a river walk.

Another iconic sign, Kani Doraku crab in Dotombori.

Dotombori is akin to Times Square in New York at night.  I couldn't wait to leave because it was so crowded.

Osaka Castle Park and Museum

Osaka Castle and Park  

I loved this fountain containing rock monoliths.  I didn't get very close, but they look like granite to me.

A little samurai statue.

Osaka Castle from across the moat.  In 1583 Hideyoshi Toyotomi began to build Osaka castle.  It is the 400th anniversary of the Winter Seige and Summer War of Osaka.  It played an important role in the unification of Japan.

A closer view of the castle.

View from the 8th floor.  Looking at the National Museum of Art.

View east toward my apartment and Higashiosaka.

You can dress up as a samurai.

Nara Todaiji Grounds

Nara Todaiji Grounds - Just outside the hall of the Giant Buddha is a wooden statue of Binzuru (Pindola Bharadvaja).  Binzuru was one of sixteen disciplies of the buddha.  If you rub the statue on a part of Binzuru's body and rub your corresponding body part your aliment will disappear.

I think this is a bell tower.

Close up of the top.

Torii gate - can you tell I like torii gates.

Small pond adjacent to the Great Hall.

Rickshaw rides start at the entrance to the property.  Mom, can I have one please. 

Nara Humuro Jinja Shrine

Nara Himuro Jinja Shrine  This small shrine is across the street from the Nara National Museum.  It is set back from the road and the entrance is through a red torii gate.

The main building and a large gathering space.

The wooden placques are for prayers.  For about ¥200 you can write a prayer and the names of the people for whom you want to pray.

Guardian of the entrance.

International prayer for peace.

Nara Light Up Wallk

Nara Light Up Promenade

I waited for the Light Up Promenade to start at the Nara National Museum grounds.  The pond in front of the building has beautiful water lillies blooming.

Many young women and men dressed in tradional kimono for the festival.

The festival began with speeches on the park property near the Todaiji Temple.  The symbol on the left is a heart.  I would love to know what the other symbols represent.

As volunteers started lighting the cup shaped lanterns colored lights blinked on and off along the side of the adjacent mountain.

There must have been thousands of lanterns.

This set of lights reminded me of a river.

Lights near the corner.

Many other lanterns were lit in the city.

The Buddhist Sculpture Hall and a half dozen other buildings are illuminated.

The five story pagoda at Kofukuji Temple is illuminated.  Beautiful.  It was a long busy day, but I am glad I stayed for the festival.

Nara Kasuga-Taisha

Nara Kasuga-Taisha

The shrine is at the foot of two sacred mountains, Kasuga-yama and Mikasa-yama.  You enter the property through the first torii gate.  The shrine was founded in 768 and housed the guardian spirit of the Fujiwara clan.

Kasuga-Taisha is a World Heritage site.

There was a huge wall of these wooden plaques.

One of the entrances to the shrine.

The paper is a form of prayer.

Two men walking along the colonade.

There are over 3,000 lanterns at the shrine.  They have the Mantoro festival twice a year and light them.

More stone lanterns.

The main entrance to the shrine.

The priestesses wear a head-dress with wisteria on it.

Prayers attached to a tree.

Not sure - reminds of dolls from New Orleans.

The main portion the shrine.

A one-thousand year old cedar tree.

A brass lantern with Nara deer on it.

Shrine building surrounded by metal lanterns.

More metal lanterns.