Kyoto - Osaka

Bismillah.

Good evening folks,
Konbanwa!

Just another short update because yours truly is kinda exhausted from traveling. From Hamamatsu we traveled farther down through Nagoya - a port city, passing by a gigantic theme park Fuji-Q. We reached Kyoto just before noon. Kyoto was Japan's capital city before Tokyo took over.

We went to take a look at a Shinto shrine. According to our tour guide, Shinto's praying movement has some similarities to the way Muslims pray. That they have to cleanse themselves, wash their hands and face before praying like wudhu (ablution) and they have similar movements with solat such as our rukuk and sujud. 

Washing oneself from a fresh water pond
outside a Shinto temple

Entrance to a Shinto shrine.
[Soon after stopping by this Shinto temple, yours truly
had her first experience of praying outdoor all by herself,
without a sejadah and proper telekung (prayer garment).
Thank God she found a clean spot at the nearby ROHM Theatre Kyoto]

And next, we visited a super crowded tourist spot near a Buddhist shrine up on a hill. In the old days, it's customary to craft a Senjafuda (have your name engraved on a piece of wood) and leave it at the temples as proof of attendance and for good luck. Nowadays, people have a Senjafuda made for fun or as a lucky charm.

As a curious tourist I too made a Senjafuda, had my name written in Kanji and engraved on an Ebony wood. I was pleased to learn that in Kanji (Japanese writing using Chinese characters to phonetically reprerent names), my name carries these meanings:

"heart, bloom, riches, great future, feather, peaceful"

I sure wish I could get lighter after this trip. I so wish to be like those in the "feather weight" category. LOL. One of the key attractions of this trip is that I get to eat fanta-licious Japanese food and snacks.

Today we had an interesting Shabu Shabu lunch that's served on a paper bowl on a burner with real fire. Who says you can't cook using a paper bowl?

        

See that fire below the paper bowl?
Lunch was awesome today : )
Alhamdulillah 

From Kyoto, we continued our journey to Osaka. Because we are mere mortals we need to have some more retail therapy. This time at the popular Shinsaibashi shopping hotspot where everyone just went mad. And no amount of Senjamairi (the act of visiting shrines) could prevent those with a weak faith from indulging in the "nice to have" stuffs. LOL.

OK folks, gotta get some sleep cos in a few hours time, we are going to the Universal Studios Japan.

"You may say I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" - I dream of meeting Hayao Miyazaki there. He is Japan's uber popular animator and film producer.

For many years I dreamed of doing Japan. Dreams do come true sooner or later. Bi-iznillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah