Chuusonji Temple, Iwate

This temple was the second stop on our adventures in Iwate. This temple became quite popular recently because it became a noted heritage site or something. I didn't really understand, but the temple was pretty none the less. Part of the main attraction of the temple was a giant gold budda, which was behind glass. There was also a movie which played, but that was all in Japanese. After we saw that, I wandered around with Katie from Hiroshima, and we had a nice time catching up after a year of not seeing each other and taking some pretty photos of the coloured leaves. We had a little bit longer at this place, so it was nice to get to explore all the little buildings of the temples, and the little pathways between them which is always fun!

Fall leaves at Motsuji Temple, Iwate

A lot of my friends volunteered in Tohoku once they arrived in Japan, about a year after the earthquake. Some of them help build new sewage lines and others build cool playgrounds for the kids. I hadn't had the opportunity to go, or have anyone to go with, so I was thankful that the WhyNot! Group were organising a trip. They are this organisation run out of Kansai which aims at proving all areas of Japan are safe, and the often take bus trips to different parts of Japan. So one Friday night I headed up to Osaka to meet Brittany and find the bus. It was really nice to see her again, and my friend from Hiroshima and my Tokyo Orientation friends were there too so it was nice to see everyone. It took us 12 hours to get up there, and our first proper stop was at this temple in Iwate. The fall leaves we're unbelievable! They should have all been gone, but they were so pretty! There was a big lake, and all around you could see the lovely reds and oranges of the leaves!
It was pretty cold, so we walked quickly through the area, made a quick jaunt around the lake taking photos. I think they turned out really well, and they look very autumnal considering it was last November! This was just one of many of the little stops we made along the way of our super long bus adventure( which seemed never ending!)

Autumn comes to Hagi

Before I had left for Osaka, I had noticed a lot of nice trees turning lovely shades of reds and oranges. But often, I was in a rush somewhere, or without my camera. So on Monday, once I was back, I decided to go and wander around Hagi and see what I could find. I wandered all the way around to the castle, and down by the moat. Then I went all around the old city, and down little back streets, and around the library. But the best ones I found were right near my house suprisingly. I had a good time, going down little roads I hadn't been down before, and discovering some new places. I dont do that very often - just explore on my bike. But when I do, I'm really quite suprised by how nice Hagi is, and it kind of restores my reason for being here.Autumn is really quite a short season here. First, it starts getting a little cold...and no leaves change until it really gets cold.Last year, I remember October being quite a warm month, even at the very end of the month, but this year, it got so much colder, very quick. Before I knew it, I was wishing for a my winter jacket, and having to wear gloves to work!However, once the temperature gets colder, the leaves start to change colour. In Japan, people flock to see these leaves. Maybe not in Hagi, but Japanese people will often head to places like Kyoto or Hiroshima to see these amazing swathes of leaves. I was a little dissapointed that I hadn't headed over to Kobe that one day to see the leaves, but I was immensely cheered up by seeing there here in my own little town!

A very random Petting Zoo

It was raining really bad as we were leaving the aquarium, and we ran quickly to the nearest building. It just so happened to be a cool restaurant/shopping mall place. On the way in, I had seen a sign which said LLAMA....but that's about all I could read. I'd completely forgotten about it, until Josh said he was hungry and I saw the sign again! I was really excited, and we wandered through all sorts of ninja stores, we found this cute little petting zoo. It was only 600 yen, and it was full of all sorts of animals. They had some birds, like this pretty pink one, and there was a green one which was doing some flying show with one of the people who worked there. Then, there were all sorts of cute little dogs, and a lot of them were wearing cute little outfits. When we arrived, there was a little grumpy dog - a pug, a pomeranian, and a few others, but when we left there was a cute little corgi! Josh and I just love Corgis!!! There was a whole cat cafe, and lots of animals like lizards and tortises and so on, and some bunnies and guniea pigs too which you could feed. There were also a bunch of big dogs which were fun, but they werent very interested in us because we didnt buy any food to feed them! But we still had a great time feeding them, and it was just a great day out with my Josh!

Date Day in Osaka

Every so often, Josh and I designate an entire day as "Date Day"...the Saturday was just kind of a fluke due to timing, but on Sunday, we had a lovely breakfast of cheesy eggs on toast, and then headed into Osaka. We got yummy bread at our favourite store, and then headed to the Aquarium. We had the compulsary photo by the giant whale shark, and had a lovely time!Sadly, the sting ray section wasn't open, which was kinda of saddening for me, but we did see lots of fish, and the otters, and other fun animals....as well as the strange giant rodent, the Kapibara. I'm not sure how he fits in, but the Japanese loved it! We hung around for a little while and went to the gift shop, before heading out of the complex....I got a new whale shark folder and secretly bought Josh an otter folder to use at work! I sure do love how cute the whale shark is, so now I can carry it around with me and be reminded of our great date!

Making faces

Josh is so silly, and always terribly patient when I make him take a million and one photos of him petting a deer, or make him redo a photo lots of time. I'm not a very good photographer, so he's patient with me! I wanted a nice one of the two of us, but the big camera isnt very suited for that. Instead, I used my iPhone. Josh decided it was "silly face" day, and these are just one of the hillarious ones which we took! It was a great memory to have of the day!

Date in the Park

I went up to visit Josh, and we had a lovely Friday night. He had to go judge a speech contest on Saturday morning. I had thought he would be a long time, and so had intended to go to Mt. Rokko, but instead, he suprised my by coming home early! I was super happy, so we decided to go into Nara, and feed the deer. It's a great date, in my opinion. Its outdoors, involves fluffy animals, and is nice and cheap. Sitting in the park is nice and romantic! We stumbled across an interesting food fair. We didnt get anything, apart from some yummy Christmas mulled wine!We fed lots of fluffy deer, and got the good deer biscuits which they like! I love feeding the deer, and its one of my new favourite hobbies! The park was really busy, because of the food festival which was going on in different areas, as well as the museum being open, for something or other. We went around, and took lots of pictures, and petted lots of deers. I even insisted on Josh getting a photo with the deer. He looked so nice in his lovely burgundy jumper! It was starting to get dark, and so we picked up some stuff to make chilli in the evening. I was actually going to make dinner for Josh for once! We stopped and I bought mince pies, and then went to karaoke! Two person karaoke with Josh is still my favourite thing ever!I sang a lot of Christmas songs and drank a ton of hot chocolate! It was such a perfect date!