Japan trip, Day 6

On Friday, we started the day with a visit in the scenic and historic Fushimi district, one of the brewing capitals of Japan. First, we paid a visit to the stunning vermilion colored Fushimi Inari Shrine and its 4 km long tunnel of scarlet torii gates was featured in the “Memoirs of a Geisha” movie.

This complex wraps around a bamboo wilderness that includes mountains, streams, and ponds, a perfect backdrop for a scenic hike. At the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum, we saw a great collection of traditional brewing tools, learned about the facinating history of sake brewing with its old buildings, complete with a tasting experience.

We continued our tour to Uji where we experienced a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, had a terrible time sitting down and couldn't get back up again.

From there, we continued to Nara, the oldest capital city of Japan. I had been there before, in 1984, I believe. We saw the Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden building in Japan that also houses the largest bronze statue of Buddha at 16.3 meters high. The surrounding park is filled with over 1,000 Sika Deer that are continuously begging for food.

In the afternoon we traveled to Osaka where we concluded the day by visiting the Dodonbori, which runs parallel to the Dotonbori canal. This is a crazy, crowded shopping, entertainment, and food district.

Besides that, Dodonbori is known for the hundreds of neon and mechanized signs that line the street, including the famous Glico Running Man and Kani Doraku Crab signs.