Konichiwa!

Our travels have found us in Japan after a red-eye flight from Hanoi to Osaka. Luckily we had lots of fantastic coffee in Vietnam to tide us over. The weather is quite a bit colder here, which should ease us back in to Edmonton's climate in a couple of weeks (boo!).

Some don't mind the cold

In fact our first order of business was to pick up a sweater for Mary, as well as try out some local snacks like taiyaki, okonomiyaki, and fried Japanese maple leaves. The production of the latter is quite involved, as they need to pickle leaves picked right off the tree for a full year before frying.

Taiyaki; fish-shaped baked dough with red bean filling

Okonomiyaki; a savoury pancake with lots of flavour

Momiji tempura; crunchy!

The maple leaves were purchased on the way up to Minoh Falls north of Osaka. While it is still early in the year and some trees are still bare, it was a very picturesque hike with a small temple along the way.

She heard me yell "duck!"

 Nyoirinkannon temple

Once we reached the waterfall, we were only a few short kilometres from Katsuō-ji, a temple dedicated to "victor's luck". It was established in 765, but given this name in 880 when the emperor credited his recovery from illness to praying here. Upon arriving at this temple we noticed something... different.

Can't shake the feeling I'm being watched...

Daruma are a sort of good luck charm, so it's fitting the the temple would be absolutely covered with them. When created and painted, their eyes are left blank. When a person acquires one, they make a wish and paint or draw on one eye. The other eye is completed once the wish is fulfilled, and some people bring their finished daruma here to Katsuō-ji to bask in concentrated luck.

There are at least 9 in this shot alone

Have you counted them all?

Seriously there's a quiz at the end

There's even a labyrinth if you're in to that sort of thing

With all the sights seen--and the rain beginning to fall--it was time to make our way back down the mountain. It was getting chilly, and we only brought so many snacks you see.

Definitely punctured my jeans