Alright, I've finally gotten around to adding more stuff. Yippee! I can't even blame my neglect on lack of material. I started looking through my pics and realized that there really is quite a bit to catch up on. I guess I'll first go over the pictures that I've put up that I took since the last update and just work forward to today.
A month ago, in spite of the heat that I've been whining about for the last two months, I jumped on a train with some friends and took a day trip out to the other side of Lake Biwa. Lake Biwa is next to Kyoto and is the largest lake in Japan. After changing trains in Kyoto we headed for the lake, which is very close to the city. The train swung aroung the south and east side of the lake up to the city of Hikone. I guess I should have taken a picture of the cabinet in the tourist help center where they had many Hikone products on display, including bras and hydraulic fittings (go figure!). We walked around a lot, touring the castle grounds and an attached garden. Then we walked to the lake to take a peek. It really is quite large and we couldn't come close to seeing the opposite side. There were some large ferries that took people out to an island in the lake, but time was running late, so we hoofed it back to the station and came back to Osaka.
Worth noting: The castle was interesting, but absolutely empty. All the castles seem to have the same basic design, as you'll see when you check out the photos. What was very interesting was that you could immediately smell the cedar from which the castle was constructed. I don't know how old it is, but it's certainly not new. It also struck me that it would go up like a matchstick is there was ever a fire.
Since then I really haven't done much in Osaka. The usual routine is to come home from work, find a place close by to grab some food, and then come back to the room, poke around on the computer a bit and then read before going to bed. One thing definitely worth noting was my trip to the states for the last two weeks of August and beginning of September. I turned 40 on September 2nd, and had a blast being back in town for the party that a few friends threw (Thanks Bruce, Dave, and Jill!).
So now I'm back in Osaka. This is my last trip to Japan for at least a little while. My last day is October 13th (yes, a Friday) and I'm really looking forward to getting back home and reclaiming some semblance of a life outside of work. Two days ago I went on another pointless wander around the vicinity and took a few pictures of some of the video games that they have here that I haven't seen in the states. There's an entire genre of games that seem to be fairly popular. They're all about physical coordination and rhythm. The game will play music with a very heavy dance beat at fairly high volume. The point of game is jump around, or wave your hands, or slap large buttons, or play a drumset, or even play a keyboard, pressing the right buttons (or whatever) to the beat of the music. There are cues given on the video screen that indicate what "buttons" to hit at the right time and you just have to keep up. Think of "Whack-a-Mole" set to music and you've got half the idea. Then adapt it to dancing or playing an instrument and you've got the other half. Check out the photos.
That brings us to today. This afternoon I went with a friend to the Osaka Aquarium (again) and brought the camera. I got lots of cool pictures and even one or two that someone other myself might get a kick out of. We also went on what's billed as the largest Ferris wheel in the world. However, I think that it's been passed up recently by the one in London, so that would make it the largest Ferris wheel in Asia. I don't remember the size, but it was very big and cool to ride in. It took about 30 minutes to go around.
Well that's about it for now. I've only got a few more weekends here in Japan, so hopefully I'll get out and about once or twice and have some new stuff to write about before going home. Until then, have fun everybody!