Focus Japan :: 20/11/09

.the view from my hotel room, Cross Osaka Hotel at around 6 a.m. Japan time.

.Japan's time is one hour earlier than Malaysia.

After breakfast, we left Osaka and headed to Kyoto, formerly the imperial capital of Japan. It was not destroyed by the Americans during the World War II because the Chinese government decided to preserve Kyoto as it was famous for its spiritual or religious influence, where it houses over 2000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, as well as gardens and palaces.

The first stop was the Kiyomizu Temple, a Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto.

.the entrance to the Kiyomizu Temple.

.the inside of the temple.

.the main hall of the temple.

.the main hall of the temple with a large veranda.

.not one nail is used to build the temple. it is only supported by the pillars.

.the view of the main hall.

.this picture is taken from Wikipedia.

.this is the Otowa-no-taki, a natural waterfall from the mountains of the temple that falls into the pond. drinking the water from the three streams is said to confer wisdom, health, and longevity.

.you're supposed to take the water with that long cup.

.don't worry. it's sterilised by UV light.

.didn't managed to take this picture because i went up to drink it.

.hehe.

.the view of the surroundings walking down from the temple.

.this is the streets that we had to walk through to reach the temple.

.the streets are called Togenzaka, Sanenzaka and Ninen-zaka.

Our second stop was the Heian Shrine. A memorial to remark the 1100 years old of history.

.this is the main hall.

.the entrance to the Heian Shrine.

.there is a pool of water situated at every temple. it is used to wash the hands and cleanse the mouth before going inside the temple itself to pray.

After a brief stop at Heian Shrine, we went to the 3rd temple, the Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion).

It was built by a very very rich man. and it was once burned down by a fanatical monk.

.the entrance of the Kinkakuji Temple.

.this is the Japanese maple leaves. called momiji.

.see that golden pavillion there?. .that is the Kinkakuji pavillion.

.the top two stories of the pavillion are completely covered with pure gold leaves.

.it looks amazing right?.

.look at the reflection of the pavillion on the lake. awesome. *i photographed it* HAHA!

.on top of the pavillion stands a golden phoenix.

.a huge bonzai tree.

After visiting a total of 3 temples, we had to take a long bus ride to the station of the bullet train a.k.a Shinkansen. I forgot in which city. LOL. all i know is that we were heading to Hamamatsu by taking the bullet train.

.the Shinkansen tracks.

.the bullet train tracks.

.the incoming bullet train that is shaped like a duck's beak.

.inside the bullet train. it only took 15 minutes to reach our destination.

.Japanese people are very punctual, unlike Malaysians, especially the KTM. .They even come 5-10 minutes early. .That's why they are so advanced. LOL.

.the bullet trains have different shapes and different speeds.

.the bullet train shaped like a robot.

.there is another shaped like bullet but didn't managed to take the picture because it was going so fast!. .such a pity.

.the shopping complex where we had our dinner. *not that restaurant behind us* we had unagi with rice. ~yummy.

.the night view from our hotel room. the Okura Act City Hamamatsu hotel. it is the highest building in Hamamatsu with around 40 floors.

.we were staying at the 39th floor.

.and the hotel is shaped like a harmonica.

Signing off! (: