Jean and I are in Osaka

I have much to catch up on posting, but here's a little bit for your entertainment...

    Sightseeing went well yesterday.  We slept in until 8:30 and missed breakfast.  That was OK.  Jean woke up early and just stayed in bed not wanting to wake me.  I'm glad she mentioned it because I told her to just get up.  So, today she did.  She is already showered, which is nice.
    We first went to the Sumiyoshi Taisha shrine which was really pretty.  Then we went back to Nanba station and saw the Nanba Parks building.  That was really cool.  Apparently, it was by an American architect, and there is a garden on the roof, but it goes up and up as the roof gets smaller and smaller. It is really beautiful.  There's lots of restaurants and high class shopping.  We went up the roof to the top and rode the elevator down.  We went to McDonalds for a quick lunch.
    After that, we went to Shitenno-ji temple.  It is the first Buddhist temple in Japan.  It is unique in that it has a Torii gate at the entrance. As we got off the subway, there was a man who asked us if we were going to the temple.  When we said yes, he said he was going there too and we were to follow him.  That was good because I didn't know where to go.  He said that yesterday was a special day for the temple.  Every month on the 21st, they open up areas of the temple for free where we would normally be charged to enter.  One of the areas is a national treasure statue of Shotoku-taishi, the man who brought Buddhism to Japan, and 4 guardians (the shitenno).  On the walls are paintings of Buddha's life.  It was gorgeous.  We also were able to go up the 5 story pagoda (my first time in a pagoda) and into the special round building with the Bodhisvatas.  He explained everything to us as we went.  Bodhisvatas are people in training to become buddhas.  They have the halos, but they wear jewelry to indicate that they are in training.  We also hit the jackpot in that they were having the monthly shrine sale.  It turns out that the Japanese call them flea markets.  We looked around and I bought two tote bags made from obi and kimono, one for me and one for mom.
    After that, we stopped at the Daimaru department store to pick up some nice green tea for Norio, went back to the hotel to rest and change, and went to dinner with Norio.  We went for breaded and fried meat on a stick.  I recognize the kanji now, but I forget what the food was called.  It's food that men eat with a beer before they go home to their families.  We stood around a counter and had the beer, and watched them fry up the food.  We had all sorts of things, mushrooms, eggplant, onion, pepper, beef, fish, chicken, etc.  We dipped them into a small vat of sauce.  Each place has their own sauce, so you can't just buy it.  Afterward, we went to a coffee shop and sat and talked for a while.  We came home exhausted as ususal.
    Now, I need to hop in the shower as today, we're off to Nara and then meet Norio again for dinner.