Something we would recommend if you want to get outsdide of the cities around Kyoto is the Hozu Gawa River Trip. You take a train out to the mountains west of Kyoto and take a wodden boat thorugh the mountains for two hours. For us, the most entertaining part was listening to the reactions of the Japanese girls in front of us. Good fun and beautiful scenery.
Of course, this was a bit different than the Shotover Jet River Boats in New Zealand...

With Osaka as our base we took a few days and went to two of the major cultural centers of Japan: Kyoto and Nara.

The first capital of Japan was in Nara and Kyoto was the home of the emperial family for much of its history. This all makes for too many sites to count.  That's why I feel sorry that our time in this area is going to have to be condensed in one post.  We are leaving Japan soon and while we have an Internet connection, we hoping to get a few posts up in the last day or two.

Kyoto is only about 30-40 minutes for Osaka by express train.  However, this fact is misleading because it doesn't account for getting to the main station in Osaka or to the desired station in Kyoto.  All said and done, it took about 1.5 hours each way, which was a bit of a grind.

Though it rained and rained, Kyoto was amazing.  We're not huge fans of shrines and temples, but the gardens that accompany them are incredible , once you get outside of the Kyoto concrete jungle.

Ginkaku-Ji, which is a stop on the philosopher's path, was my overall favorite.  Small, but intricate and very well kept.

Despite seeing many temples and shrines in Japan, this was the first  time I had seen the zen gardens with carefully and almost unbelievable constructed sand structures.

Next was Heian Temple in Kyoto, or more specifically, the gardens at Heian, which you might recognize from the movie Lost in Translation: 

 

One of the real highlights for me was seeing a couple of real geishas in the Gion district of Kyoto.  I deliberated for a while and finally asked this one for a picture (in Japanese no less!)

 

Nara is an easy day trip from Osaka and most of the sights are all in the same park. Nara has the largest wooden structure in the world: the Daibutsu Den Hall, rebuilt last in 1709.  The size of the building is quite deceptive. It's big freaking HUGE in every porportion. Awesome.

 Inside is a giant wooden buddha (nearly 500 tons of bronze) and two very cool (and scary looking) wooden statues.

The park in Nara is covered in friendly Deer, who are considered national treasures and sometimes terrify food-carrying kids.   

And this completes the whirlwind tour of the Kansai region.  Phew.

The area around Osaka, which includes Kobe, Nara and Kyoto, is the cultural center of Japan and where we based ourselves for 5 days. 

We used Osaka as a base and stayed at the Hotel Riva Nankai in the Minami area, which was an excellent location (like Osaka's Times Square), but priced a bit more than we wanted at about US$120 per night.  Luckily, there was a mix-up and we had to change rooms and they gave us a better room for about US$85.  Woo-hoo!

So we kicked around Osaka some.  The aquarium was pretty amazing as it has the largest single indoor tank in the world which contains a whale shark- the world's largest species of fish.

 I really dug the jellyfish.

 Osaka is a bit grungier than the other cities we visited.  The fashoin is a little more urban and people are generally more boisterous.  This made for the best people watching in Japan.  All the rage in Osaka were knee-high black stockings and brightly colored heels:

All the guys have bleached hair worn a bit like the "hair bands" in the 1980s.

 We also saw a baseball game: the Osaka Buffaloes against Yokohama.  First of all... buffaloes?  They couldn't find anything more Japanese than that?  The game on the field was just like any American baseball game, but the crowd was a different story.  Each team had live marching bands in the outfield bleachers that made the most noise as their team's batter was at the plate.  Everyone was seated, even during a homerun, when they beat inflatable bat-things together furiously.  At one point, everyone blew up balllons and let them go at once.  Apparently we didn't get the memo, but it made for a cool spectacle.

 Then of course, the Japanese have invented innovative ways to dispense beer (that is a small keg on her back and a tap  in her hand).  This photo also provides further proof that it is impossible for Japanese girls to be in front of a camera without a "peace sign".

To cap it all off, we had a roto (conveyer belt) sushi joint behind our hotel, where we went twice to enlarge our stomachs.  The sushi just keeps coming.

 

Lately it's been seeming like things are flying by so fast that if you don't stop and document them, they just fly away. With this post, the doucmentation is going to have to be mostly pictures, as it represents a few days.  Enjoy...

Kamikochi Japan is a tiny village in the Alps with expensive lodging ($200 per night) and some of the best scenery in Japan.  Despite rain, we really enjoyed the natural beauty.

 Mt. Yakedake:

 The Azusa River:

 From Kamikochi, we spent a couple of nights in Matsumoto, where it rained a little more.  This caption should read "Damn you rain!!!"

 

 Alas, Matsumoto has a stunning castle:

 We took a day trip to a town called Hotaka, where you can rent a bike...

 ...ride across picturesque rice patties...

 

To Japan's largest wasabi farm:

 To end this session, we went to Himeji Castle, one of Japan's most famous sites, and a UNSECO World Heritage site.  We happened to arrive on a beautiful day that also corresponded with the colorful Matsuri Yatai Festival.

 These guys were all wearing shoes "tabis" like this:

 But we really came for the castle:

 And it's original architecture.

 

 And views for miles...see the festival below?

 And then we went to Osaka, where we'll be for a while as we explore Kyoto, Nara, etc.