Staying in Osaka this time, we took a bus to the other side of town to visit the Katsuo-ji temple. Our guide explained there has been a temple here for over 1300 years, so it was high on the “important temples to visit” list (despite it’s very short Wiki entry). I understood where we were when I saw all the Daruma dolls.

Some background: “Daruma” is a legendary Buddhist monk that meditated for so long that his arms and legs fell off. No, really. In Japan this is represented by a roundish doll, often made of paper-mache, that is weighted on the bottom so it always stands up. Note the empty eye balls. How it works: when you want divine assistance to accomplish a goal you: 1) go to the temple and buy a Daruma doll, 2) make the wish and paint in one of the eyes, and 3) when the wish is fulfilled you paint in the second eye and return the doll to the temple.

The point is: the little freak was everywhere at the temple. Prepare for Daruma bombing:

Otherwise this was a lovely temple.

One statue is worth discussing. Portugal and Spain were the first Europeans to visit Japan (mostly on southern ports), and they brought Christianity. After a while the Shogun banned foreigners and their religions. However, many Japanese had converted. Here is a Buddha statue holding a child which our guide explained was made in a way that could also pass for Mary and child. You ask for assistance by taking the ladle and throwing water on the statue (which is why it’s so wet).

Other things on the temple grounds: Here is a plum tree, which blossoms just before the cherry blossoms and lasts a week or so longer.

If Daruma is not enough, there is a rack to hang wishes on.

Here is a shrine to the god of disasters, where you try to convince them to go somewhere else.

There were also some standard temple stuff.

At the gift shop – of course, there’s a gift shop – it seems that Daruma needs chocolates.

After the temple we went to Kuromon Market in downtown, Osaka, where we had free time to shop around. The shops were spinning up for lunch.

I didn’t recognize this in the refrigerated section until I looked up.

I don’t care if Spider-Man eats here, I won’t trust it’s actually Kobe beef.

I found a shop that serves okonomiyaki, which I ironically discovered while visiting London, England.

As the ship left port a 20-person brass band played a mix of Japanese and Western music for us. I recognized “Smoke on the Water” (Deep Purple), Theme from “Howl’s Moving Castle” (I think), “Top of the World” by the Carpenters and some Disney classics. Even strangers along the pier waved us goodbye. It was cool.

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• At the Daruma temple the monks have a “digital detox” hotel. No electronic communication is supported. Our guide claims it was “six star”
• For the first time in the six weeks of this cruise my guide was male. In addition, for the first time our bus driver was female.
• Our guide claim that many “standard” Japanese food are actually imported
  • Tempura comes from Portugal
  • Ramen comes from China
  • Sushi comes from Thailand

We got little Daruma from the temple as part of our tour. They also come with a fortune. My guide mostly agrees with what Google Translate says about mine.