View of Osaka, Japan from my hotel window.
Osaka, Japan’s 3rd largest city is in Osaka prefecture on the big island of Honshu. It was once the capital of Japan. It was known, then, as Kaniwa. Ten years later, the capital was removed to Asuka in Nara prefecture. One hundred years later, the capital was moved back to Kaniwa.
The city was razed during various internal battles. Near the end of the second world war, Osaka was bombed several times before Japan’s surrender on August 15th, 1945.
I am using the city as a base for visiting Koyasan. This is a busy metropolitan city in every sense of the word. You can find anything you need here.
I checked into a nice hotel near Namba Station.
There are malls for shopping, cinemas, and the massive train station. Inside is the big department store, Takashimaya.
Then I planned my trip to Koyasan.
Inside Nankai Namba Station is an information office which provides helpful planning aids to get to Koyasan. On a train and mountain cable car, the trip takes about 2 hours. I bought my tickets and decided on an early departure for the next morning.
Getting to Koyasan
I arrived at the Namba train station for Koyasan very early… before 6 am!
It is not very busy right now.
And there are not many people waiting for the train to Koyasan!
Gokurakubashi is an important stop on the line to Koyasan. Depending on the departure from Namba station, the train may or may not stop here. It is the same when returning to Osaka.
Top of the mountain
Sign for cable car station stop at the top of Mt Koya.
See you next time at Koyasan.
Baadaye and Mata Ne (ăžăă)
Shirley J âĽď¸
This and several posts this summer chronicled my pilgrimage in Japan where I walked the 1200 kilometer-long Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage. Read my announcement here.