We went on a brief tour of Osaka. The highlight was a visit to Osaka Castle. The Castle houses a Shinto shrine. It was built many years ago but a serious fire destroyed it. Again it was consumed by fire. In 1931 the citizens of Osaka donated funds to restore it to its former state.

Then we travelled to Kyoto (an hour by road) the former Imperial Capital, at the time of Shoguns. We visited one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country. There I learnt that there were four kind of Buddhas: the Buddha who became enlightened and attained Nirvana, the Bodhisattvas who became enlightened but did not accept Nirvana out of their compassion for other beings, the Buddhas who serve the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas who do not fit into any of the above categories.

We had dinner at a famous Japanese artist's home. The highlight of the day was we had a couple of (authentic) geishas to entertain us. When we went to Tokyo the following day the guide there told us that it is unusual even for a Japanese person to actually meet with a geisha. They entire geisha culture seemed to be steeped some kind of mystery.