Dec 24-25: Osaka and Xmas eve

On Xmas day, we continue our epic journey to Osaka... It took us only 5 hours by train...Osaka is the 2nd largest city in Japan...Maha and me took the chocolat train to visit my dear friend Andy's family... Accept it, Andy, is not "maroon" but "チョコレット"...Hisao-san and Sakura-chan...Sakura-chan and the small shrine behind Kado-kan...Okaasan!!!!!!!Okaasan and Sakura liked their Ecuadorian omiyage...Food time!Beer time...For Andy, but no one remembered his mail :PSakura-chan almost ready to deliver... Baby was kicking!More family pics, featuring Nobu-san, Tetsuo-kun (put some weight) and Otoosan...Thank you very much, Okaasan and Kado family!!!! I had a family Christmas. For me there is not religious meaning in the originally pagan celebration of December 25 (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, for instance), but always like to spend it with family and friends...Eventually we met the Korean mafiosi... Our Xmas presents from Rafa and Ana Maria... Hit the streets again baby!I wonder about those ladies' job description... What the hell is this???Hardcore electronic den of iniquity... The perfect place to celebrate the birth of Amaterasu.La Carnalita...The Wandering Mexican Bross with Jose...Crazy Korean bastardo....Miss DJ... Visual experiments...Next day, slept until afternoon and then hit the streets...
Last Fellowship pic before Tokyo...Osaka's Chinese-like streets...Ebisu perhaps...Bread and cheese...Buddhas...Met the Korean and separation from Maha...Good travel back home my dear...We started trip to Suzuka...Mie prefecture's map...Waiting in a random station...We finally arrived in Suzuka, and Jonathan's mother friend, Ichikawa-sensei, picked us and took us home...Massive sukiyaki... including aguado de pollo...O-mochi!House was huge, and we got a 16 tatami room...Next day, to hit the road!

Dec 26-28: Mie prefecture, based in Suzuka

Ichikawa-sensei's house is the way I want to live when I have a house...Our room...Lord Vishnu riding Garuda...Smoking Koreans... Korean restaurant... Ninja house in Iga Ueno...Shuriken...Importance of not being a filthy bastardo...A roof like Basho's hat... Ueno castle... Ueno castle with monkeys... The perfect battle helmet!Made out of postal stamps!Helmet and armor...Matsuo Basho's memorial house...Haiku with kaki...We hit the road again bound for Kuwana city... Jose sleeping all the time... He has a problem or something...Visited a Christmas lightened garden kind of place... very impressive...OVNI...Lights and more lights...For dinner, something light.... Before going to bed, and after beers, I noticed Jonathan can write in pagan tongues from hell...
Next day, and after a massive breakfast, we headed for Ise and Toba, and especially for the Meoto Iwa...
Breakfast... Jose sleeping... I insist, this is not normal... Some castle we did not visit... Almost there, some sort of frog worship. The explanation is that since this is a fishermen town, women used to prey before the frogs (kaeru) for their men to return (kaeru as well) safe from the sea...The wedded rocks!!! The shinto rope joining husband and wife weights about a ton!Two versions of me before the sea... Yes, I am angelocentric...Nearby, an incredible fancy guest house (ryoukan), where the emperors of Japan lodge when they travel to this remote place.A 120 tatami room!Office....Next destination was some kind of observation point on top of a mountain...
Some snacks for the road... Yes, they are what they look like: baby sweetened crabs... The world... So bad was cloudy, otherwise many islands are visible from here...Happy family lunch with famous Ise udon...Amaterasu...Next, the unbelievably sacred Ise Jingu, where Amaterasu is worshipped. The shrine consists in two ones: Naiku and Geiku. We went to Naiku only... Here, the shrine is destroyed and rebuilt from scratch every 20 years, for such a purpose they have 2 especial areas...The river is also shinto...Amatarasu's house... no pictures allowed, nor even getting in unless you are someone... Space for the new shrine...Commercial street nearby...Girls...O-sake... Japanese kitsch...Cute thingies...Rest...Shihifukujin portraited as kitten...Back to the road.... Guess what? Jose sleeping again... There's a town called "Ano", hahahahaha...We were invited to tabehodai by other friends of Jonathan... That was something! Carnivorous beast... Gentleman...Cooking... Sugarcotton... We destroyed the damn place... Effects...Gochiso sama deshita!The cheapest vending machine ever... Our natural beer cooler... Thai fighter (Im not this fat, is just after eating like a homeless in a feast)...Rest before continuing our journey...
Next day, to Nagoya!!!!

Labels: Meoto Iwa, Suzuka