Kyoto & Osaka
OSAKA:
At the end of our marathon day-of-arrival - The Slackers
in concert at Osaka.
Amanda, Mayumi, Justin, and really excited concert-goer
(right).
A lively side street in Osaka, complete with Bob Marley
beer ad and floating Fugu (puffer fish).
An Osaka skyscraper boxes in a temple, with a shopping
arcade on the right.
KYOTO:
Lunch at the green tea restaurant in Kyoto - green tea
fried rice for me.
View from the restaurant window - hawk and crow having a
friendly chat.
Heron fishing the falls in Kyoto.
Geisa in cherry-blossom kimono - out for a springtime
photo shoot.
Traditional snacks - pounded rice with filling and
flavoring. We tried the pumpkin kind (right side).
Fans-a-plenty.
Geisha (second sighting of the day) waiting in a taxi.
Monkey model - working for peanuts at
the park where people in the caged building feed the free-roaming
monkeys.
The baby monkey enjoyed apple slices.
A much older monkey naps, with Kyoto in the background.
Cherry blossoms and yellow flowers burst out along a canal
near Kyoto.
More "sakura" along Philosopher's Path in Kyoto.
Amanda with more cherry blossoms in the same area.
A small blue bird seen along Philosopher's Path.