Kobe and Kyoto

Another impression: Japanese money is relatively easy to adjust to. Everything is in yen, and at least at the current exchange rate, a yen is roughly a U.S. penny. So, one needs only to divide the yen price by 100 to get the equivalent number of dollars. Of course, this leaves one problem--currency is not difficult to deal with, but the coins are another matter. They come in 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 denominations and are in unfamiliar shapes and colors. The 5 and 50 coins have holes in the middle, and we have been told that the 5 coin is considered good luck, as it depicts a number of things important to Japan's economy.

We were in the Kobe port for two nights. On our first day there, we traveled to Osaka, toured the Osaka Castle and climbed all the way to the top for some great views of the city. The history of Japan is filled with warlords, shoguns, samurai, castles, temples, and battles. Prominent individuals did create some impressive structures, however. We have gotten LOTS of exercise, typically 4 to 6 miles of walking each day and many flights of stairs, some on quite difficult, steep, and uneven stones. (My new Apple Watch keeps a great record of our daily activity--steps, distance covered, calories consumed, and flights of stairs climbed.)

Below are: the moat around Osaka Castle, the castle itself, a closeup of one of its features, and a view from the top.

We continue to enjoy trying unfamiliar foods. Kathie picked up something like a dumpling filled with calamari, an interesting sauce, and shaved bonito. Actually, really good! Our skill with chopsticks continues to improve.

Later, we visited Sumiyoshi Taisha, a shrine where residents come to wish for health and prosperity. Pictured below are the shrine's Sorihashi Bridge and a sanctuary called Daiichihongu.

At all shrines, one can purchase small items to take away in remembrance or can draw a random fortune or wish on paper. If one considers the fortune or wish "bad", they usually leave it behind as shown below.

Not exactly the same as praying,  but nevertheless directed to some type of deity, the proper way to pay respects at a shrine is as follows: throw in a coin, two bows, two claps (to acquire the attention of the deity), contemplation of the wish, and then a deep bow. Kathie will now demonstrate for you.

Around the grounds of this shrine are numerous monuments from organizations, businesses, and individuals intended to show respect for the shrine.

Each night aboard our ship, there is a show of some kind (music, magic, broadway-style productions, local color). The first night in Kobe, we were treated to a Japanese drum team. Very impressive to watch.

Our second day in Kobe involved a drive to nearby Kyoto where we began by visiting the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine. (An aside: By this point in our trip, having visited numerous shrines and temples, we commented that the experience in Japan was beginning to echo many of our experiences and tours in Europe and elsewhere. That is, tours often seem to involve stops at cathedrals, chapels, and churches were much impressive architecture and art can be seen. Same thing in Japan, except it is shrines and temples. It can all start to be a little redundant, though certainly there is unique beauty and scenery in each case. We'll be looking for other types of tour opportunities as we go along.)

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine is dominated by the color you see below at the entrance gate. He called it vermillion, but it seemed more a rich orange to us and not quite the red we think of with vermillion.

M&M often choose different things to see from what Kathie and I have chosen, but on this day in Kyoto, we toured together.

One unique feature of this shrine is a pathway lined with over 10,000 smaller shrine gates, each a dedication by an individual or organization.

Located high above Kyoto, the forest around the shrine was a dazzling display of shades of green. As it is spring here, many things are blooming, including cherry blossoms, azaleas, and other things.

I love the many buddhas we are seeing. This one was particularly ornate.

Our tour took us to a resort in Kyoto where we enjoyed a really interesting and tasty lunch with lots of different things to try.

Later, we concluded our tour at Ryoanji Temple, which has a large, simple, but remarkable rock garden, carefully groomed and featuring several large stones. The temple, garden, and grounds are associated with Zen Buddhism which emphasizes meditation.