Osaka

I woke up at 6 am (still on California time and waking up early every morning) on Sept 15, and since I wasn't expecting to meet Jana for another couple of hours, I went for a walk around sleepy Osaka. Turns out there's not a lot of people out at 6 am, which made it very peaceful as I poked around the residential streets near my hostel.

This resulted in a set I like to call "Cats of Osaka" (original title, yes?)

When I got back to my hostel, Jana was already waiting outside - absolutely haggard from an 8 hour bus ride that she didn't sleep a wink on. We snuck her up to my room and she promptly crashed on my bed while I ventured out again. I walked pretty much straight across the city center, but didn't see too much of interest except for a very cool temple tucked away between two office buildings.

And a cool park where people were relaxing on this national holiday (Respect the Aged Day)

It was about time to check out of the hostel, so I took the train back up and woke Jana up so we could head out. We hopped on the train to what would be my favorite part of the trip so far: Koya-san!