Peapod on Purpose

One of the best places to start a yearlong adventure is Osaka, Japan. It’s a city that’s not too big, not too crazy, and the perfect way to start a family gap year. We started here and it was so fun! When we landed in Osaka, it was nighttime and we didn’t see much.

The  Airbnb had pretty good beds (for Japan) and we got used to the time change quickly. The next morning, we went to the convenience store where I got spring rolls and a seaweed-wrapped rice ball with salmon for breakfast. After that, we went and walked around a covered shopping arcade. It was cool to see, and we walked around a lot more while we were there!

It’s more common for people to take the subway than to drive a car. To get to the train, you have to go down some stairs (obviously). You can either get tickets for the whole day, get tickets individually each time you go to the subway, or you can buy a card that you tap as you go through the ticket gate. 

Later that day, we went to see a rooftop garden. There was this large mall and on the top levels there were beautiful gardens. There were all kinds of plants, and a few flowering ones. Afterwards, we went to an arcade that was mainly for older people (teenagers, grownups, etc.). The only game we could play was a Mario-Kart-drive-the-kart game. (One of the karts was not connected to the others, so whoever was in that kart, could not race with the others)

The next day, I woke up early and went on a walk with dad. We wanted to see the sunrise, and had to walk very fast! We passed a pond with a bridge over it that had big lily pads on it. The lilies were white, and the lily pads were raised high off the water. When we reached our destination, we saw a castle with gold details that were shining in the sun. It was so pretty!

Later that day, we went to see Himeji Castle. The first things I saw were the walls and the castle peeping out from behind them.  The walls were not as tall as I expected, but there were slots to shoot arrows from.

All of the seven floors of the castle were similar, and they all were awesome! The woodwork was beautiful and the smell of the wood was wonderful. We had to take off our shoes to go inside, so we all made sure to wear socks. The stairs were very slippery and steep. 

When you looked out one of the many windows, the view of the castle roofs was incredible. There were so many! All of the windows in the castle were open which helped it feel cool inside the castle even though it was almost 100 degrees outside.

The wall bolts were beautifully decorated, and they were designed like flowers! They were also pretty big. On some of the floors, there were special escape doors that were super cool! They had a latch so that nobody could get in from the outside. 

The next day we went to Kyoto and took a trip outside of the city to swim in Lake Biwa for a few hours. The water was very warm; it felt like a room temperature bath. The lake was as clear as glass, there were some very little fish, and there was no seaweed. We couldn’t go out too far, because there was a marker/rope. We could sit on it and not sink!  It was also fun to walk on it like a tightrope. Me and Middle Pea spent a little while building walls around an ever collapsing foot bath.

The next day we visited the bamboo forest, and I loved it! The bamboo trees were almost as tall as a two story building and they felt super smooth. A cool breeze was flowing through the trees, which caused them to sway gently. Some of them were leaning, and looked like they were about to fall. In the middle of this adventure, we took the wrong path and ran into one of the many temples that we saw. The seats had beautiful fabric with a swirling red and gold design on them. 

On the way back to the bamboo forest, we found a few things. First, we found an overlook of the hills in front of us. It was cool to see the houses on the side of the hill. They were just sitting there and they were pretty far away from the town. (If you zoom in, you can see the house that is a little ways away from the rest of the houses!)

Next, we found a pond covered in lotus flowers! They were pink and white, and the lily pads were raised pretty high off the water. Some of them were just opening, and some of them were multi-colored!

When we got back to the bamboo forest, we saw a huge spider web that had a big spider sitting on it. 

Later that day, we went to Kennin-ji temple. The temple was so beautiful! It was a Zen temple and there were beautiful gardens. The gardens had white sand and trees in the middle. 

There was a very pretty worship center. There was a big statue of the Buddha made of gold. Also, there were decorations like flowers, lily pads, and two statues made of gold next to it.

There was also a dragon painting that was painted at a school on the ceiling. The dragons were huge,  and it must have taken a long time to paint! It was painted in a school by the kids there for a school project. Isn’t that cool?

In the other rooms, there were paintings of people on mountains and dragons in the clouds. They were on the walls and they were black and white. The artist painted them so that it looked like it was fading into the distance.

On Sunday, we went to our first church on the trip. We had to take the subway to it because the church was in the center of the city. The church was called Mustard Seed Church, and it was super cool! The pastor said a few sentences in Japanese, and then it was translated into English.

Later that day, we got to ride on the fastest train in the world to get to Tokyo: the bullet train! It went so fast that the surroundings flew by. The inside of the train was similar to an airplane. You had a seat back tray, and the seats were blue. Did you know that when the bullet train goes back the other way the seats get turned around?! 

On the first day in Tokyo, we got to experience a Japanese splash pad! It was cool because there were no shooting water spouts, and there was about a foot or two of water in a medium sized area. It was so cool! We played there for a long time, and we enjoyed it very much. We liked jumping in and landing on our feet. It made a big splash.

After we went home and got changed from the water park, Me, Small Pea, and LP, went to a beautiful tea place with A LOT of flowers! It was very pretty. We got tea and treats that were rose flavored. I personally have never had rose flavored treats, but I LOVED it!

After the girls tea, our whole family checked out an amazing Harry Potter store that was across the street from the tea place.

I am a big Harry Potter fan, and I was very excited to see the store. It was amazing! There were all sorts of cool stuff inside, like a Gryffindor wax seal making kit!

There were also statues and a trolley going into the wall that I took pictures with.

On our last day in Japan, we saw an awesome red Tori gate shrine that we got to walk through. It was bright red, and went up a bunch of stairs. 

We didn’t do anything else that day because we were flying out of Japan. The flight was around seven hours long. 

Japan was a really cool country, and I enjoyed it very much. I learned about samurai, Himeji Castle, shrines and temples, and the country of Japan. I hope we can have many more adventures like this one! 

PS: Most of the pictures have been provided by Big Pea, Middle Pea, and Little Pea.