4-1-2011

Today I had a meeting in Osaka for work. April first is the beginning of the academic calendar. Spring is symbolic of new things and it seemed appropriate to have everything begin with cherry blossoms overhead.

My original plan was to stay through the weekend because tomorrow is my birthday and today is Friday--and the company paid for my shinkansen tickets to Osaka, but a friend arrived in Tokyo today and I need to go home to greet her. So instead of staying the weekend, I had okonomiyaki for lunch.

2-28-2011

Last time I went to Osaka for work I took a very sad walk along Midosuji Dori.  In the end all worked out and I got some pretty pictures too.

No idea what this building is, but the lighting hit it too well to not take a photo of it anyway.

1-19-2011

In Osaka there's a lot more space than in Tokyo.  Along Midosuji street, there are bridges with planters along the pedestrian walkways.  It looks really nice with the general design of the bridge too.  Tokyo isn't nearly as pretty as Osaka in most places, which really is too bad.

12-16-2010

For a country that doesn't know anything about Christmas, there sure are a lot of Christmas trees here.  Pretty ones too.

11-23-2010

Osaka is much more spread out and beautiful than Tokyo in the conventional sense.  It's particularly striking in Autumn.

9-27-2010

These castle-like blocks are common throughout Japan.  They are frequently used to make retaining walls, but sometimes are also the sides of buildings.  The rough surfaces of these stones are perfect places for moss and other things to grow.

9-26-2010

Osaka castle is quite a pretty castle.  It's really nice during cherry blossom season, which you cannot see here.  Maybe I'll take a photo of it when I go for work in April.

9-6-2010

Wish I could say the bamboo is dried out due to the heat because it sure feels like it would be, but this is a fence.  It's also not in Tokyo, but the heat in Japan right now is unnaturally unbearable.  This year we're hitting record highs...and when the hottest day of the year is September 4th that's not normal.

8-29-2010

 
Went out for Israeli food again, but that's already been posted here and the photos didn't turn out how I wanted anyway.  Need more practice with indoor lighting and using the white balance on my camera.

In lieu of my intended photos, here's the gate of the temple near my company's GHQ in Osaka.

8-28-2010

As is often true after I travel, I didn't do much today.  Here's more from the shrine in Osaka.  I have no idea what the purpose of these stones is, but they look neat.  maybe it's the style of the stone that I like so much.  It's amazingly photogenic and old-looking.  The ones in Tokyo never seem to photograph so well.  Maybe it's an age thing.

Edit: I've been told that these are the donors who funded construction.

8-27-2010

Near my company's GHQ in Osaka there is a temple that I love to take photos of.  These are the lanterns that run across the front of one of the buildings.  There's also a small historical record building / museum, shrines and other small structures throughout the area.  It's not particularly large, being rather close together, but it's beautiful and never particularly crowded.  I tend to go before heading to work if I do an overnight business trip to Osaka.

8-26-2010

The Italian restaurant we always go for work has pretty good presentation.  The food quality is good too but I always want to take photos of the food.  Grapefruit gelatin, peach cream puff and chocolate cake with ice cream, lemon biscuit and vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce.

7-5-2010

Even the sidewalk tiles are decorative sometimes. These caught my eye in Osaka.

7-3-2010

Most of the exterior walls that aren't some sort of brick or tile are covered with a stucco-like texture that's been painted over.

5-28-2010

The Dotonbori in Osaka is a cool place with tasty food.

5-27-2010

A shrine nestled between a hotel and some other random building in Osaka.