Fall Colors

It's December, but the weather is still very mild here, and the fall colors are as vibrant as ever. I went to the Higashiyama Botanical Gardens today to do some autumn leaf viewing, which I think is a bit of a hobby here. Fall here does not disappoint - the trees are absolutely gorgeous.

I promise I haven't edited any of these photos, the leaves are really that bright and vibrant! I'll be happy to keep the fall weather around a bit longer.

Japanese Explorations

It's officially been over a month since I came to Japan and I'm finally getting the hang of things. Japan's one of those places that the more I learn about it, the more questions I have! But teaching has been really enjoyable so far, and I've had the opportunity to do some more exploring on the weekends. Here's a bit of what I've been up to.

1. Shopping
Shopping is endlessly amusing here, especially in Osu, the shopping district of Nagoya. Osu is basically streets upon streets of shops and stalls selling everything from fried octopus to Japanese comics to fancy kimonos. I love just wandering around and trying to figure out what stuff is! My coworker went with me one Saturday and showed me all the out-of-the-way little places to buy exciting things. I especially love all the "kawaii" cute things - I could spend all my money in the little Japanese stationary shops here!

The streets of Osu

Ready for some shopping

Here's a shop for all your Kirby needs

And if you need a Koopa Shell or two, they've got that as well

2. Shrines
In Europe, if you're taking a cultural tour around the city, you visit the huge, intricate cathedrals and churches; here in Japan, the equivalent is to visit the shrines dotted all over the city. The shrines are either Buddhist or Shinto, the two main religions here. They're usually very beautiful and peaceful, except for the one in Osu, which is usually full of commotion and people feeding pigeons!

Osu Shrine

Paper 'wishes' that people write

Kosho-ji Shrine

A five-story pagoda

A Buddhist graveyard

3. Exploring downtown
There's something really exciting to me about just navigating my way around a big Japanese city and seeing the sights. Nagoya's not extravagant like Tokyo, but there's still plenty of neon lights, five-story karaoke joints, and odd architectural anomalies to keep me intrigued on a day or night out!

A ferris wheel attached to the side of a building

4. Tokugawa Gardens and Museum
There's no shortage of lovely Japanese gardens here, and on one particularly nice weekend, I visited a local garden, Tokugawa, which is also connected to a small art museum housing some ancient Japanese artworks and samurai gear. There was just about everything you could hope to find in a Japanese garden, including little waterfalls, arching wooden bridges, weeping willows, and hordes of koi fish in the pond.

Hungry hungry koi fish

Lots of pretty views

No garden is complete without a waterfall or two

There's definitely plenty to keep me busy!