Tennoji August 27, 2008

This afternoon, I met Amy at Nakamozu, and we took the subway together to Tennoji Station.
Our plan was to find and visit Shitennoji temple…Only, Tennoji station is MASSIVE and the temple was a 15 minute walk from the station.
So we wandered around for a little while, and eventually I started examining the bus maps. All of a sudden, this Japanese guy comes up and goes, “So! Where are you guys headed?!”
Me and Amy were like “AHH WTF!” and I was like, “Ummm….Shitennoji….,” not sure if I should reply in Japanese or English.
He goes, “Oh, can you speak Japanese?”
“Yes, a little,” I reply.
“Ok, I’ll go ask the man,” he says, and walks over to talk to one of the traffic managers.
He comes back and tells us to go right and then straight and that we’d see it.
Me and Amy thanked him profusely, and as we walked away, Amy said, “That guy is SO at the top of my favourite people list.”
So we followed the directions and eventually found the temple. We paid 200 yen to get in, and took some time walking around and taking photos. Apparently Shitennoji is the oldest officially administered temple in Japan. It was the first temple built by the state.
After that, we walked back to the station to find lunch. We ended up eating at MOS Burger, but found the tacos to be lacking.
We walked around, exploring the underground for a little while before deciding to hit up the Osaka Municipal Art Museum. We paid another 200 yen to get in, and spent a while looking at vases, cups, paintings, tapestries, and statues.
After the museum, we checked out a bit of Tennoji Park. We walked around a small pond, where there were many loose cats roaming around!
Then we went back to the underground and went home.
It was a good day in Tennoji! I am glad to explore more of Japan.