Woo ... Pictures !

There are some interesting pictures that I intend to put up but I have yet to transfer them all from my memory sticks so you just got to stick around a little more. Meanwhile I shall be vain and post some self portraits instead.

This, as you can see, is the Japan Universal Studios in Osaka.

There were no clouds in Osaka; it was a total clear blue sky (look at the left pic).

So clear and blue that I was cooked by the UV rays in less than 5 mins after I got off the coach.

So glaring that no amount of shades or caps could save me. I had to squirt my eyes all the time to look at things.

For a slightly larger version of pic, click here.

Here, I have to complain a little. See that chipster at top right ? I think that was a female inside the costume ! She was ignoring me and fawning over and playing cheekily with whichever male species who wanted to take photos with it. It even attempted to cover my already half-covered face with its blue pilot cap. Dumbo ! I had to tiptoe. (Yeah I was that short.)

The Imperial Palace East Garden, Tokyo. I had never seen more well tended lawns as those in the Garden ! The Edo Castle where the Imperial Family resides is surrounded by stonewalls and moats, and to reach the gates of this Castle (below)

you have to walk thru this:

the landscape of burning hot black fine rocks. Oki I was exaggerating a little about the burning hot part. But the sand was really quite warm. And you can see a little of the Castle at the top extreme left hand side of the pic, behind those trees. I was standing half way to the castle, so multiple whatever distance you see in the pic by two, and that was how far anyone has to walk under the cloudless sky, just to get to here:

to see the barriers 300 meters away from the gate. That was it.

Less than a mile away from the heavily guarded Castle stood the magnificent statue of the Last Samurai of Japan. If you'd watched "The Last Samurai" in which Tom Cruise starred in, you might know who I'm referring to.

Statue of Kusunoki Masashige

I started out wanting to splash my own pics all over the place but ended up telling a mini story. Haha. That's all for now, 'til the next one.