After an excellent summer back in Ohio, Phill returned to the isles of Japan for the Autumn season. Although Autumn in Japan is devoid of football, haunted houses and Thanksgiving dinner, it still has some charms of it's own. One of those being that it's perfect weather to hit the hot springs. Phill did that and also stuffed himself silly with a large feast afterwards. The food was so good he even tried to eat the box it was served in (left).

Kishiwada is home to a danjiri festival. The portable shrines used in the festival are the same as the ones used in festival throughout Japan. What sets the Kishiwada festival apart though is how dangerous it is. While other festivals carry their heavy shrines around gingerly, the Kishiwada participants run down the street and zoom around corners at high rates of speed.

A few things changed in Osaka while Phill was away. One of the changes he found upon his return was a month long event celebrating Osaka as the water capital of Japan. There was a tour boat with a robotic dragon head (left) as well as dinosaurs made out of old toys (right)

There was even a huge fish made out of trash collected from the rivers of Osaka in an attempt to clean them up a bit (left). The photo on the right is of the Japanese version of a sand castle. Phill was impressed.

While Phill was back in the States he did his best to eat as much American food as he could. He did the same, but in reverse, once he got back to Japan.

He also went to a friend house to enjoy a BBQ. There was no grass or cornhole like his BBQ's back in Ohio, but fun was still had and tasty eats still stomached.

On the left are some of the things Phill ate at the BBQ. On the right is Phill and friends on a Sake Brewery Tour.

Mike he leads a tour of the Sake Breweries about once a year. This year he made sure everyone had a little sake in them before they ever even made it to the breweries.

Our first stop though was to the home of Junichiro Tanizaki, one of Japanese most famous authors.

In addition to the old things that were on display inside the house, one of the gang brought along this artifact for taking photos. (left) It was a big contrast to the 2 story tall robot that Phill stumbled across inside the entrance to Osaka's City Hall. (right)

And that pretty much wraps up Phill's autumn. Apologies to those who were hoping for even more mention of robots.