So one day I went for a walk...

Despite the weather returning to form and it feeling like the middle of summer again today, I attend an autumn harvest festival. Takanori was kind enough to offer to take me to this festival, as it took place near his home.  Without his suggestion I would never have known of this festival, let alone found my way to it. For today's trip Takanori, Pak (a Korean guest at the Banana Hammock) and myself all woke up early to make the journey south.  It was a short walk to the train, then a ride on a local train that took us the rest of the way. Left to right: Pak, Takanori and myself standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Mozuhachimangu shrine. As we arrived, things were already well under way, and thousands of people were all throughout the grounds of the shine. The shrine grounds had additions for the festival in the way of large "parking spots" built from scaffolding like tubing and festooned with decorations that related to each town involved, m...

Today was unusual in many ways.  Not bad mind you, just unusual. Last night the rain started at one in the morning and continued without break until noon, having two important effects; The rain itself leeched out a great deal of stored heat energy from the city.  This city has been so hot the last few weeks that leaning on the outer walls of buildings, even late into the night, filled you with the heat of the day all over again.  The city has been bathed in heat, and a nights rain drew so much of that out and let it rundown the drain. The cloud cover itself stopped the sun from penetrating down to the asphalt and starting the convection cycle over again, giving the city a chance to linger in this cool period. By noon the city was only 25 celcius and cloudy. Despite the rain spiking the humidity, the city felt a relaxed shady cool for the entire day.  With this I set off down the road from my HQ in the south of Osaka to visit the natural history museum....