Uploads from dai oni, tagged osaka, with geodata

Osaka by Night

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:39:10 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Handheld HDR, somehow managed to keep it relatively steady...

From wiki:

"The city is the capital of Osaka Prefecture. Osaka was historically the commercial capital of Japan, and to date the heart of Japan's second largest Population of Osaka "city" is next to Yokohama city, but the Osaka Metropolitan area is the 2nd largest in Japan metropolitan area of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, whose population is 17,220,000.

A unique title that the city of Osaka holds is the first place in Japan for day to night population ratio of 141%, a depiction of Osaka's economic- and commerce-centric character. While at night time the population ranks third place in the country at 2.6 million, in daytime it surges to 3.7 million, second only after Tokyo.

Osaka is traditionally considered the "nation's kitchen" (天下の台所, tenka no daidokoro) or the gourmet food capital of Japan."

What Comes Up...

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:42:10 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Not sure if it was up looking back, or down looking forward... but it nicely book-ends its pair:

www.flickr.com/photos/daioni/3185911767/in/set-7215760852...

Umeda Sky Building, Osaka.

Outside & Down

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:21:20 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

From wiki:

"The Umeda Sky Building (梅田スカイビル, Umeda Sukai Biru) is the seventh-tallest building in Osaka City, Japan, and one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and an escalator crossing the wide atrium-like space in the center.

Located in the Umeda district of Kita-ku, the building was originally conceived in 1988 as the "City of Air" project, which planned to create four interconnected towers in northern Osaka. Eventually, practical considerations brought the number of towers down to two.

The 173 m (568 ft) building was designed by Hiroshi Hara. It was constructed by Takenaka Corporation and was completed in 1993.

The building features a rooftop observatory, The Floating Garden Observatory, as well as an underground market that attempts to recreate the atmosphere of Osaka in the early 20th century. At the base of the towers is an urban garden with walking trails and water features."

This is an exterior shot from the outside observation deck. The two skybridges (is that the correct term?) are up and down escalators, as featured in the 'starwell' upload:

www.flickr.com/photos/daioni/3185911767/

The view from the inside, looking up, can be seen here:
www.flickr.com/photos/daioni/3047875762/in/set-7215760852...

(and there are a few others in the 'stream)

As mentioned in that upload, the main problem shooting at the Sky Building is shooting through glass (there are quite a few little reflections in this one, if you look close enough). The other problem was shooting after a few beers... there's a bit of shake in this image, but it's the best of a bad lot. It was bloody cold too, which may have also been a contributing factor.

Shitennoji Temple

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:02:11 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Part of the Shitennoji temple complex. Osaka, Japan.

Stone & Rope

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:18:26 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Osaka, Japan.

Textures by ghostbones and paul grand.

Explored, highest position: #290

Wish Machine

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:47:42 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

From wikipedia:

"Omikuji (御御籤, 御神籤, or おみくじ) are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines　and Buddhist temples in Japan.

Literally "sacred lottery", these are usually received by pulling one out randomly from a box that one shakes, hoping for the resulting fortune to be good. The omikuji falls out of a small hole, scrolled up. (Nowadays, these are sometimes coin-slot machines.) Unrolling the piece of paper reveals the fortune written on it... The omikuji predicts the person's chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. When the prediction is bad, it is a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a pine tree in the temple or shrine grounds. A purported reason for this custom is a pun on the word for pine tree (松 matsu) and the verb 'to wait' (待つ matsu), the idea being that the bad luck will wait by the tree rather than attach itself to the bearer. In the event of the fortune being good, the bearer should keep it. Though nowadays this custom seems more of a children's amusement, omikuji are available at most shrines, and remain one of the traditional activities related to shrine-going, if lesser.

Compare perhaps the custom of writing a prayer on a specially-prepared wooden block called an ema, which is then tied to an ad hoc scaffold."

Examples of omikuji and ema can be found in this set.

Osaka Shack

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:14:02 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

From the outer inner suburbs of central Osaka (does that make sense?): somebody's castle.

I genuinely did get lost in Osaka (easy to do), I was trying to find the Umeda Sky Building, ignoring the sensible idea of asking for directions (hey, it's a male thing). Anyway, at least this allowed me to engage in some good old お散歩カメラ - wandering around with the camera.

I liked this shanty-like shack, clinging on in the cement jungle of urban Japan. It's far from unusual, but this one caught my eye.

Explored, highest position: #258

Sky Circle

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:12:45 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

140m high view of Osaka from the Umeda Sky Building.

I wish I had pushed the seat across a little. I also wish the engineers/architects didn't have to ruin a perfectly good window by jamming a pillar next to it.

The asymmetry really bugs me.

X Walk

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:12:45 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

A cross-section of life.

Umeda, Osaka.

Would probably benefit from a view in the original size.

Explored, highest position: #47

EGO

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:10:00 -0700

dai oni posted a photo:

Mr. Osaka/Kansai Bodybuilding Competition, 2008.

Japanese Bodybuilder

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:05:11 -0700

dai oni posted a photo:

A competitor in the Mr. Kansai/Mr. Osaka championship, 2008. I almost threw this one out, but I kind of like the lighting.

Organized Chaos

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:07:31 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Umeda, Osaka.

The compact jumble, old and new, pretty much sums up the predominant motif in most of the Japan images.

Explored, highest position: 342

Pretty amusing that the least appreciated recent pic gets explored, especially considering the number of groups it was in. Interestingness certainly works in mysterious ways...

The Bandaged Tree

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:05:26 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Shitennoji temple, Osaka.

Explored, highest position: #83

Broken Hearts

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:55:47 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Shrine to lost children.

Osaka, Japan.

Pyramid

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:18:07 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Shitennoji temple, Osaka.

Green House

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:47 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Osaka, Japan.

Umeda Dragon

nobody@flickr.com (dai oni) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:23:37 -0800

dai oni posted a photo:

Lost in Umeda, Osaka, I once again stumbled on a weird mall beast (last time it was the giant fugu). I thought it was a pachinko parlor at the time, but on closer inspection, it's a karaoke joint.