VACATIONING IN JAPAN

My First Vacation in Japan

I've only lived there

Osaka-jo

It's mid school year break in Malaysia and I had almost 3 weeks off from work.  I decided that I would go back to Japan for a week and visit a few people and see a couple of things.

Taking off from Senai airport in Johor Bahru.  7:00 departure.  It was a small airport but I kind of like that cuz its real easy to find your way around.

Here's the new KLIA2 airport.  Or should I say here is the Air Asia airport.  I think they are the only airline that flies out of this airport.

Plane taking off

This is actually a very nice airport.  Lots of shopping and restaurants to entertain yourself with while waiting for your next flight.  After waiting 7 hours for my next ride I was quite relieved to be moving on.  7 hours is too long in any airport, at least any airport I have been in.

I landed in Japan about 30mins behind schedule, which had me a little worried as I was coming in at the end of the operating day.  I managed to get on the last bus into the city and met my friend who was letting me sleep at his place while I was in Japan.

I have to be honest here.  I was fully expecting this visit to tell me that I was finished with Japan.  I did live here for about eight and a half years.  As I was flying in I realized very quickly that I really miss Japan and I hope that one day I can go back permanently.

While my friend was working on day one I decided to go out and just wander around.  My intention with this trip was to meet a few of my friends.   I wasn't overly interested in sightseeing as I have seem most of the things I want to see.  Following are a couple of pictures I took while out and about in Osaka city.

small shrine in downtown Osaka

river cruises.  I love these.

on the way to Osaka-jo

On another day I decided to go back to Osaka castle.  I have been there a couple of times but I figured, I have nothing else to do while my buddy was working and I love castles, so why not?

The moat surrounding the castle.

Castle wall and lookout tower.

Plum Garden, an area of the castle grounds.

I've never approached the castle from this side so I got to see something new here.

One entrance to the castle area

 So nice I had to take two pictures

 The elevator always ruins this view for me, but I guess its good that everyone can go inside.

 Rainy season started just a couple of days ago.  Looks kinda like its needed.

 Castles and Shrines are pretty much the only places you can find greenery in Japan.

The next place I went to check out was the Sky building.  From the first time I saw this building I have wanted to see it.  It took me leaving to finally find the time to go there.

Model of the Sky building

I couldn't find a good place to take a picture of the whole building so I took one of the model that was inside.  And this next one that I got on the way to the building.

This building is 173 meters tall.       (I think)

One of the longest escalators I have seen.

view of the city from the top of  the sky building

View down the middle of the roof.









That was all the sightseeing I did in Osaka.  The rest of the time I was just absorbing the ambiance of Japan/Osaka.  I really love the feel of Japan.  Its very different from other places in the world I've been.

For the final part of my trip I went to Tsuyama city to visit some of the people I used to work with.  We went out for Indian food and some good conversation.

Noriko, Satomi, Nikki and Logan

Satomi, Logan, Nikki, Noriko and myself

Some of my favorite people in Japan.  I just wish all the others in Tsuyama could have come.  Hopefully I will get another chance to see them in the future.

The next morning I toured around the town a little and took some pictures so everyone could see small city life in Japan.

Tsuyama station

Small roads, small cars.  Very typical Japanese towns scenes

Covered shopping arcades are very popular in Japan.  Tsuyama is not any different having 3 of them within a 10 minute walk from the station.

Nic Nac's for your home

Folk art

Here is the entrance to the lone department store in Tsuyama

another shopping arcade 

Not terribly busy on a monday morning.

A river runs through it

 After taking these pictures I returned to Osaka and then a day later went back to Malaysia.  I had a nice trip back, but when I arrived at Senai airport my car wouldn't start.  I called the car rental company and a tow truck arrived fairly quickly, which is unusual in Malaysia.  After trying to boost it we decided that it wasn't going to start.  I called the rental company again and arranged a loaner car to use while they were fixing mine.  Lucky for me they didn't have any basic models so I got a really nice car.

Its a pretty nice car, but I just have to get used to the much bigger size.  I think my car would fit inside the cab of this one.
I was only about three and a half hours late to get home. Made for a long day.

Well, that is how my holidays went.  I think I will try to get to Pulau Tioman next.  Hopefully in July, if not then in September.

A lot of pictures today but I hope it was enjoyable.  I know I had fun living it!