Burger Quest : Kuma Cafe

Hawaiian Beef Burger.

Early this summer A and I where on a quest to find good burger shop around Kansai and we started our quest at Kuma Cafe located in front of the famous Osaka Aquarium.

I ordered Hawaiian Burger and it was 1500yen. It was too big for me. It has a big beef patty and big slice of pineapple and of course French Fries.

The place is really comfy and spacious. We also had a chance to met and chat a little bit with the owner and chef Paul who is really nice and friendly.

So if you are around the area and looking for a good burger you know where to go 🙂

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Maishima Incineration Plant

As I mentioned in my other post, there are two building or facility that has some weird design in Maishma, this one is the Incineration plant.

It burns garbage from Osaka City, Yao City and Matsuhara City. Tour here is more famous than the Sludge Center and the facility are more tour-friendly too.

Again the tour itself is in Japanese but you can request English and I think Chinese audio when you make your reservations.

Let’s start the tour.

The red color represents fire.

With the tower. Inside the tower are 4 big exhaust pipes.

Unloading area for the garbage.

A miniature version of the inner part of the facility.

A miniature version of whole facility.

The “garbage picker”. The facility have 2 incinerator which can burn up to 450 tons of garbage in day so that would 900 tons/day.

The office and monitoring area.

Our guide explaining to us how the garbage are being incinerated.

It is an amazing facility. People asked why would you go there? Why not? I think it is vital how our rubbish are being disposed and how our tax money are being used. The facility operates 24 hours but other than the smell of the incoming garbage trucks, there is no smell at all. The air filtering system is amazing.

Also the facility does not use any gas, oil to burn the garbage. It uses a sort of air combustion technique . They also use Thermal recycling meaning no energy is going to waste. The heat from the boiler rooms are utilized for floor heating, water, gas reheating and for preventing explosion in the hammer crusher. The same energy is also used for power up the plants operation on a daily basis and the remaining power is transmitted back to the local power company.

Details on how to make reservations are here(sorry only Japanese).

Maishima Sludge Center

If you have been to Kansai International Airport in Japan, you might have noticed two very distinct towers along the way.

One is color blue and that is what I’m going to blog about.

This building was designed by the late Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

So what is this building?

This is actually Osaka’s water recycling facility for underground water. Thus the color blue, it is suppose to represent water.

Touring the facility is free but requires a reservation. Tour is mostly done in Japanese but you can ask an English audio guide during the reservation

Let’s take a tour of the facility.

A wall painting of the facility

The staff working so hard :p.

The tour was only within the building but the weather was really nice and we had a really nice tour guide that he decided to take us all the way to the rooftop and show us around there too.

A view from the rooftop.

This tower actually contains 4 or was it 6 exhaust pipe.

After walking around the rooftop we went down on the base of the tower and continued our tour there. I’m not sure if this is still part of the official tour but hey I’m not complaining.

A storage area for the Sludge.

The base of the blue tower.

The back area of the facility.

This facility only recycles Underground water for Osaka City not Osaka Prefecture.

The by product are now being research to be used for pot making but some are actually used as construction material so nothing is thrown away.

It was really a very educational tour around this facility.

If you live in Osaka City, this is where your monthly payment goes for underground water treatment and of course your tax.

Katsuoji

Katsuoji Temple (勝尾寺) was formerly written as “勝王寺” (meaning “temple that surpasses any kings”) because it was said that Buddhist prayers exceeded the Imperial power of the time. Later, since “王” (king) was replaced with “尾” (a kanji character with the same sound as “王”) to show constraint, the temple has been referred to as Katsuoji Temple “勝尾寺.” Supreme rulers in various periods in history had worshipped in Katsuoji Temple to pray for fortune in war and it is still known as a the temple of good luck at games.

It was a surprise that I have never found this place and thanks to a friend’s event I ended up here after several hours of hiking.

What’s amazing is the dolla of sizes found all over the temple.

It’s a little out of the way but definitely worth a visit.

Let’s take a tour 🙂

Let’s get inside.
The dolls waiting for you at the gate.

A small temple in the middle of a small pond.
It’s all over the place.

Even on this branch.
On top of this signboard.

This stone sign.
And of course in front of this shrine.

It comes in every size.

Unfortunately though, I was really tired after several hours of hiking that when I found these area where all the dolls are, I decided not to go all the way to the top. It seems you can actually buy the Daruma dolls on the temple on the top of the mountain. Prices vary depending on the size.

Entrance to the temple is 400 yen.

Kyoto Autumn Walk 2014

I joined an autumn walk around Kyoto last year and we saw some really nice places. We all met first in Arashiyama and walk all the way central Kyoto.

We passed by several temples and shrine but unfortunately, I lost the list of names that I made. So please enjoy the tour.

The mountain and river in Arashiyama Kyoto.

On our way to the Golden Temple, we passed by this area

The sun and the maple leaves

I think this is the Saga-Arashiyama railroad.

The maple tree and the train station.

Near the Golden Temple , we passed by a parking area and the trees are around it were very beautiful.

Yellow !!

Red!!

More red maple leaves!

We stopped at nearby local park for lunch

Ginko Tree.

After lunch we continue our walk to the next shrine. It was a small one , mostly local tourist but it was beautiful. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can remember how to get there too.

The entrance to the temple or shrine(?). Unless you get inside the main hall , you don’t need to pay to enjoy the lovely trees outside.

A close up.

Another close up.

The fallen leaves.

The maple tree and the gate.

We continued our walk and on our way we passed by another big temple.

Let’s check it out.

This area is not open to the public but they opened the door, to allow visitor to glimpse at the garden.

It would be nice to have a picnic under these trees.

A small treat while walking along the Kamo River.

The Sunset.

Attempted night shot using iPhone.

Another one.

We walked more or less 20 km around Kyoto that day. The weather was great, the company was great. It was an amazing day.