My timing is getting off. I started doing laundry when I got back to the hotel after 5PM and didn’t finish until 9PM. I guess it takes about 40 minutes to wash and 30-45 minutes to dry. Since I was going to wash ALL my pants, I had two loads to do. There’s no going to the laundry room pantsless. That’s something to do at home.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Today i decided to go to the Tennoji area to see Shitennoji Temple. I knew there must be a lot of people visiting the area when I found a tourist bureau in the Tennoji train station. There’s only three offices of the tourist bureau in Osaka. I was told that the Shin-Sekai area around the Tsutenkaku Tower is a lot safer than it was 20 years ago, so I was going to check that out as well.

But I still needed coffee even after my late start this morning and so it was off to Mister Donut. There was a line and people were buying boxes and boxes of doughnuts. This weekend is ¥100 doughnuts and Osaka people love bargains.

There are small temples everywhere you see just walking down the street in this area.

The first temple I saw was Tennoji Koshindo Temple.

This was busier than the pictures show. Lots of elderly people all throughout the temple grounds. This is the main temple. I could hear chanting in the temple. In fact, most of the temples today had chanting or reading of the sutras.

There was some sort of festival going on and maybe this is the day to eat lucky konnyaku. I’m not familiar with the traditions.

There were seeds and nuts and another vendor selling spice. I didn’t realize this until just now, but the “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys are from here.

Walking outside Shitennoji Koshindo Temple, you can see Shitennoji Temple.

This is a busy road you cross to get to the temple grounds.

This is the main temple grounds, protected by two warriors.

Here’s another view showing the pagoda.

A monk and a prayer wheel.

This is the large gate leading into the the area.

A bell tower, I think. I kept hearing bells and chanting.

This is something my mom told me about, the pool full of turtles.

Temple, chanting.

There are a lot of temple buildings on the grounds of Shittenoji Temple.

I’m not sure what this is, but it held a shrine and burning candles and incense.

Another view of the pagoda. You could get into the inner area, but I was too cheap to pay the several hundred yen to see this or the Japanese garden.

This is the gate leading to the whole complex. A traditional traveling monk is begging outside the gate. You can see the more ornate gate inside. Shitennoji was one of the less busy temples I saw today.

I started heading towards Shin-Sekai, avoiding the Tennoji Zoo. Back when I lived in Japan I went to see a movie (I think it was Total Recall) somewhere in this area. I passed through the zoo grounds and I saw the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen in a zoo, a crazed orangutan with a growth on it’s head swinging around screaming.

In any case, I could see Tsutenkaku Tower in the distance.

Walking down the busy street, I saw this huge glass and metal structure and two warriors or demons underneath. There were people streaming in and out of this area. Usually something that modern means it’s an odd new religion, so I was busily trying to get my iPhone to tell me what the heck it was.

Turns out this is Isshinji Temple

This is the main Temple and has the graves of historic kabuki figures and was started after the founder of the Jodo sect stopped in the area.

The other rather odd thing is the seven Okotsubustu, statues of the Buddha made out of the cremated remains of 150,000-200,000 people per statue. There are at least two in this building.

There are at least five in this building. There’s constant chanting and the smoke is incense burning.

There was also another “round” building filled with lighted candles.

I saw on the map that Yasui Jinja Shrine was close by. I somehow made it in without going up these stairs.

It was a smaller shrine.

The area near Yasui Jinja Shrine is known for the nanasaka, or seven slopes. This one is Tenjinsaka.

To the left, where you see the flags, was a small temple. I was looking for Kiyomizudera Temple (not the famous one in Kyoto, but the local one) but this wasn’t it.

Walking through the neighborhood, through some back alleyways towards a large cemetery and then wedged past something that looked like a storage area was Kiyomizudera Temple.

After that I pressed on towards Shin-Sekai. I was pretty sure I was getting closer as the streets looked seedier. Everything was just blank buildings under the freeway, but finally I found a bus. 

And the west entrance to the zoo.

And the first thing that looked promising was a kabuki theatre.

Sure enough, down that street was the Tsutenkaku Tower.

And a sign announcing Shin-Sekai. One thing I don’t think I took pictures of is all the Billiken. Like I said yesterday, they confuse me.

Oh, hey, there’s a Billiken to the left.

This is Jan-Jan Yokocho street where women would play the shamisen, making the jan-jan sound to beckon customers.

There was a shogi club where people were playing the Japanese version of chess.

Jan-jan yokocho from the other side.

I think this is the famous kushikatsu restaurant where there are signs against double-dipping.

The giant blowfish of Shinsekai. I was hungry, but everything looked a little sketchy and I wasn’t brave enough to go anywhere.

Spa World, which I saw mentioned somewhere. No real idea what it is.

No real idea about this either.

So then i twas off to Nipponbashi. I was emailed a map of the ham radio stores by one of my old co-workers while I was in Mr. Donut earlier in the day. Unfortunately I think Thursday is the day they’re all closed.

I did find an interesting “Electronics Department Store” Silicon House Kyohritsu. I cut off the top as I was trying to take the picture while crossing a busy street. They had U.S. SparkFun kits as well as local kits. I was interested in the do-it-yourself speaker cabinets and amplifiers.

Here’s another look down Sakaisuji Avenue and Den-Den Town.

Here’s Hirota Jinja Shrine, a short way from Den-Den Town.

My final stop in the area was Imamiya Ebisu Jinja Shrine. I think this is a popular shrine for merchants. I was expecting more to it, and maybe a few more people.

Then it was back to Shin-Imamiya Station. I saw a few homeless guys, a few drunks peeing, and just “normal neighborhood people” staggering around in the streets. I would not suggest taking the route I took to Shin-Imamiya station. I had to walk all the way around the station to find the entrance and the whole of the neighborhood was a little sketchy.

Then it was back to Umeda. I figured it was about time for me to wash my jeans again and while I was at it I might as well buy a new pair from Uniqlo and wash those too. Well, the current sale is on pants, so I bought some khakis which will probably be too small for me when I get back to the US and start eating like a pig again and a pair of jeans which the guy said would shrink but didn’t, so they feel too big for me. But they’ll probably fit after I start eating again. Uniqlo hems pants for free, but it takes some time, so I went and had some cake. The bear is done in chocolate & strawberry syrup. (Did I mention lunch ended up being a rice ball at Lawson?)

So, after getting my pants and a t-shirt I ordered, I went back to the hotel and started my laundry. By the time I was ALMOST finished, it was 8:30 and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. I finally decided just to try the Garden Café where I have breakfast in the hotel. There’s never many people there for dinner. I asked for suggestions and the woman suggested the steak.

The steak wasn’t the best, but it was good enough. The fries were cooked earlier and the soup seemed like it was reconstituted instant, but I’d get it again. Especially if I’m too busy to go anywhere else.

 The big drawback is that there’s no non-smoking area at night, so you just have to hope nobody sits near you and starts to smoke.

And there you have it. I thought I’d just be back in a couple of hours but I was out all day. And it’s past my bedtime again. Oh well.