Kansai shiet.

So last week was Golden Week, a string of holidays that allows for Japanese people to take some time away from their never-ending working schedule. Manami and I seized the opportunity to visit Kyoto and at the last minute, decided to spend a day in Osaka. SAWEEET. Kyoto = historical Japan, Osaka = loud, food and beer-loving, neon, crazy clothed Japan. I'm not sure which I like more. Maybe a combination of both.

Kyoto is a kick ass city and here's why. Throughout the town are some of the oldest remaining places you'll find in Japan. Like over 1000 years old. That's cool right there. Then the downtown area is absolutely beautiful. There's tons of bars and restaurants, and there's a big river that slices right through the middle of the city. All the young people sit along the water, talking, drinking, enjoying outside, and everyone knows how to play guitar and sing in perfect harmony.

I'll let the pictures do the talking. Captions for pictures that need em.

First stop was kinkakuji, a temple that is coated in real gold.


Probably my favorite place- the second place we went to. It had a zen garden, a huge japanese garden, and temples.



Blurry picture, because you're not actually allowed to take pictures. But, this is a dragon on the ceiling. This guy outdid Michaelangelo by several hundred years. The dragon is the guardian of Buddhism. Buddha hates me for taking this one.


Speaking of buddha, this ain't no regular buddha. This be brotha buddha. Word!


This is the house of 1001 awesome Buddha statues and 28 buddha god statues. This place was awesome, I wish I could show you the inside, but I can't. Seriously badass though.


A famous place on the water to hang out in the day. Can't remember the name.


Kyoto by night.


Manami and one of her Kyoto friends outside Kyoto's HUB

Okay, quick filler here. The deal with The Hub is this. They are English style pubs spread out all over Japan, but highly concentrated in Kanto (the area where I live). I've made it a mission to visit as many of these bars as I can, because pub-style bars are RARE in Japan. Most people prefer to drink in izakaya, which sucks, because izakaya are antisocial if you're not already in a group. So, I like this place. Even though it's kinda costly.

A cigarette-smoking samurai and myself.


Goji, the tallest pagoda in Japan.


Which way?!?!




Osaka by day and night.



Sweet English.


Hub Osaka.


Finally, ALMOST everything we ate.






This is domestic-raised, wagyu beef carpaccio. DELICIOUS.


And finally, just giving the little guy some help.


I have a lot more pictures from the trip, but these were some of my favorites. Hope you enjoyed.