I'm back! :D

Finally I returned from my holidays in Japan.
It was just amazing and I have so much to tell and show you.

We stayed mostly in Osaka and did day trips from there to Kyoto, Nara and Kobe, then rode the Shinkansen to Hiroshima and spent the last three days in Tokyo.
Here are a few impressions:

This is Osaka castle, which we visited on February 27th. It was rebuilt after WW2, as it was destroyed back then. Now, inside there is a museum, and from the top you have very pretty views over Osaka.

Here you can see the beautiful view over Osaka from the Sky Building. I'm afraid, the photo doesn't show the extent of how breathtaking the sundown was, as the sun slowly disappeared behind the mountains.

In Kyoto we saw a lot of shrines and temples. The city is really beautiful with its old wooden houses and people actually wearing kimonos. Here you can see the Senbon Dorii (10,000 gates) route starting at the Fujimi Inari Shrine, which goes up to the mountain top and back. And yes, we went all the way! @.@

This is the harbour of Kobe, where we went on March 2nd. In Kobe we visited the Desaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute, where they research earthquakes and tsunamis and what can be done when one of them strikes. We did not eat Kobe beef, but had very delicious curry. :D

In Nara there are deer everywhere, at the temples and shrines, at the bus stop, in the park, on the streets... As they are very tame, you can feed and pet them. Isn't that amazing? Though I kept thinking how delicious venison is. XD

Hiroshima was both sad and impresive to visit. This is the only building that somewhat survived the a-bomb. We have been to the peace museum, where they exhibited everything related to the incident from torn and tattered clothes to pictures of severely burnt and mutilated people. But there are brighter sides to Hiroshima, too...

This is Miyajima island, which is close to Hiroshima. In the centre of the photo you can see the famous Torii and parts of the temple to which it belongs. When it's high tide the temple is awash. There are also a few tame deer there. I wonder how they got on that island? o.O

Finally, we arrived in Tokyo on March 6th. Here we are in Akihabara, which is loud and colourful and bustling with people. This is pretty much how you'd imagine the capital, right? But this is but a part of it.

Even in Tokyo there are temples, shrines and pagodas like this one everywhere. And deep in the surprisingly green heart of Ueno park, we found this:

The first cherry blossoms!