Kansai Trip During the 2011 3/11 Disaster

More than two years have passed since the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster (3/11 Disaster) that hit the Tohoku area in northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011 and during that time, I was an international student studying in graduate school in Hiroshima on the opposite side of where the disaster hit in Japan. While going through my files, I discovered some photos I had not yet posted and those were the ones taken while I was traveling in the Kansai region during that time.

In the beginning of 2011, my mom made travel plans to visit me during the Japanese university academic calendar spring vacation (from February to the end of March) and we started off by visiting the Kansai (Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto) region.

So what was it like to be in Japan during the 3/11 Disaster in the Kansai region in western Japan? Surprisingly normal.

The Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社) that we visited in Kyoto on March 12, 2011.

Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka (宝塚), Nishinomiya (西宮) and Ashiya (芦屋)

On the 3rd day of my trip to Kansai in 2012, I went to the area of Kansai between Osaka and Kobe. I visited the cities of Takarazuka, Nishinomiya and Ashiya. Previously I had gone to Kobe and Koya-san on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012 respectively.

There were a couple of reasons why I choose to visit these un-touristy areas. (1) Due to my interest in railway plus property urban planning and development, I wanted to see what the areas along the Hankyu Railway lines looked like since Hankyu Railway was considered a pioneer of this urban development model in Japan. (2) Since the Hankyu lines went through Takarazuka, I could also make a visit to the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum on the way. (3) Because of the New Years, Hankyu was selling its 1 day unlimited pass as the "New Year Ticket" for only 1000 yen (US$10) compared to the normal price of 1200 yen (US$12).

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka.

2012 New Year's Trip to Koya-san/Mount Koya (高野山)

On January 1, 2012, during my winter trip to Kansai, I went to Koya-san/Mount Koya (高野山). One of the reasons I choose to go to Koya-san on New Years is because nothing is open on New Years Day in Japan and going to a commerce-free mountainous temple town seemed to be a good idea and it would be interesting to soak up the atmosphere of a temple town.

Koya-san is the centre of Shingon Buddhism which was introduced in 805 by the monk Kukai (空海) (Kobo Daishi, 弘法大師) and Koya-san was first settled in 819. Koya-san is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name of the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range".

The main gate of Koya-san, the traditional entrance to Koya-san before the advent of modern transportation means.

Kansai Airport Tour

There are approximately three things that first got me interested in Japan: Sony/consumer electronics [now completely irrelevant], Shinkansen (bullet train) and Kansai Airport.

I first learned about Kansai Airport in 1994 at the age of 11 when my dad told me about reading some magazine article on some "crazy" airport that was being built in Japan on an entirely man-made island. This got me really interested and I asked him to bring me the article so I could read it and the next day I received the article, ripped out of from the employee lounge's copy of Time magazine ^^

It would be until 2004 until I had the chance to visit the Renzo Piano-designed Kansai Airport for the first time. However this was a family trip using the Japan Rail Pass and we didn't have much time so I managed to convince the others to visit the airport at night since we didn't have to pay any extra fees as we had the rail pass.

Although I finally got the chance to visit the airport that I first got to know about in 1994, because we visited at night, I could not explore as much as I wanted, mainly I wanted to see the man-made island and the double-decker railway/road bridge.

Now upon gaining some (crappy) Japanese language ability as a result of my undergraduate student exchange and my current post-graduate studies, I found out that they offered tours of the airport so I scheduled a tour on my mini-trip to Kansai in Sept. 2010.

The Renzo Piano-designed international terminal building from the visitor's centre.

Osaka Urban Walks

This is a collection of pictures that I took while walking around in Osaka during my mini-Kansai trip in Sept. 2010.

For some reason after they selected the "Inukshuk" as the logo for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada, this symbol of the native Inuit peoples of Canada suddenly became one of the symbols of Canada?

Anyways I found in inside a subway station in Osaka, Japan. I think it has to do with the fact that intensive wood was used in the architectural design of this Keihan Railway station.

Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka (インスタントラーメン発明記念館)

On Sept. 22, 2010, I visited the Kansai region for a couple of days and one of the places that I always wanted to visit while I was an exchange student in Tokyo in 2005-06 but never had the chance to was the Instant Ramen Museum (インスタントラーメン発明記念館) built by the company that created instant ramen, Nissin Foods.

The instant ramen was invented by Momofuku Ando in Ikeda City in Osaka where this museum is located.

This is the original Instant Ramen Museum and has no entrance fee. In 2011, probably to cash in on tourists coming to the Tokyo area, a bigger and non-free museum (500 yen entrance fee), the Cup Noodles Museum (カップヌードルミュージアム), opened in Yokohama.

Outside of the museum is a statue of the inventor of the MSG laced, totally unhealthy instant ramen. I do admit that I am an instant ramen fan though!

Actually my favorite brand is "出前一丁" and interestingly I didn't know what those 4 words meant (it makes no sense in Chinese) until I learned of the Japanese reading. "出前" means "delivery" and "一丁" means one city block or one order.

Osaka: Streetscapes, Sanyo Electric HQ

(Updated: June 1, 2013 with high resolution photos)

This is the 2nd part of my Osaka series. Previously, I posted a section on the Osaka waterfront...more than 1 year ago...(man, I have been lazy in posting), here is the link to that:

Part 1: Osaka Waterfront

I took these pictures on the same day, Mar. 30, 06.

After visiting the Osaka waterfront, I decided to go hunt out the headquarters of major electronics companies in the Kansai region. I wanted to visit the Panasonic headquarters/factory, but this time I had not done my homework, I did not book in advance, and therefore was not able to go. Instead I found that Sanyo Electric had its headquarters in Osaka, so why not visit their site and see what was there?

Other factories and headquarters of companies that I visited:

Toyota Headquarters and Auto Assembly Plant in Nagoya

Nissan Auto Assembly Plant in Yokosuka (suburb of Tokyo)

Front Gate of Nintendo HQ (scroll down...unfortunately, visitors are NOT allowed, there was a sign IN ENGLISH at the security desk!)

Side note: The good thing about Japan is that large companies are more than willing to let you visit their plants/factories (unlike in security paranoid North America where there isn't even a viewing deck at the airport for looking at planes). Its pretty interesting that a lot of the products that they export to the rest of the world is developed at these places. At the Nissan plant, we were the only ones there and they hired an interpreter just for our group of 2!

Osaka - Modern Transportation Museum and Harbour

(Updated: June 1, 2013 with high resolution photos and new descriptions)

On March 30, 2006, during the morning and afternoon I visited the Modern Transportation Museum and the Osaka waterfront.

My first destination was the corporate museum of West Japan Railway Company, more commonly known as JR West. Their Modern Transportation Museum was located in Osaka. This was my first time visiting a railway museum in Japan.

Although the museum was quite old, it still had many interesting things for me to spend the whole morning there.

One of their highlights is a display of the original rolling stock of the 0-series first generation Shinkansen (high speed rail).

The world's first high speed line, the Tokaido Shinkansen, opened between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964 and this was the original high speed trainset.

Going to Chubu, Kansai and Kyushu

I am going to the above places by a combination of local/rapid train (Seishun 18 Kippu), plane, and highway bus for the next 10 days so if your wondering why there is no updates, thats why.