As you can tell from the title of this post… I’m really losing the blogging touch (Not that I had much to begin with -_-”)

*Sigh* Watch as this site slowly morphs into a random picture dump with some lazily written words in between courtesy of yours truly. On the menu today, about the only noted reason to come to this part of Osaka, Minoh Falls.

(And if the name sounds a bit too grandiose for what seems like a small trickle of water in that photo… Well, yea, perhaps Minoh “Falls” would be more apt)

Say “Minoh” to a random Osakan, and the first thing that pops in their mind is one of 3 things:

1. This waterfall.

2. Monkeys. (See later in this post)

3. A slightly backwater-ish ‘city’ to the north, home to a good handful of supposedly decently well-off Japanese families, foreign students studying Japanese, and local students studying anything but Japanese on Osaka University’s Minoh Campus. (In which case, said Osakan probably lives around here)

But yea, just about the only reason anyone besides those mentioned in number 3 would want to come to this rather nondescript part of town would be to take the hour-ish hike into the mountains to catch a glimpse of the trickle falls .

Though it’s not all the way awe-inspiring in the nature’s wonders department (If I’m sounding a little mean, it’s only because I come from a country that receives obscene amounts of rainfall and have seen my fair share of cascades =P), the relative accessability and the surrounding greenery give the locals enough reason to come flock to the falls in the weekend (that, and the Japanese tendency to flock I suppose).

That and the resident monkeys that have sort of become synonymous with the falls themselves. (Slightly more well-behaved than their Malaysian counterparts I’d like to report. Then again I wasn’t obviously carrying any food products for them to snatch…)

Just follow the flocks within the flock of locals chattering “Saru, saru, saru!” excitedly.

The place is presumably more crowded this time of year with people anticipating gorgeous views of flaming red momiji (Japanese maple). When I visited just about a week before (about time I thought, since it’s closing into 8 months since I’ve been studying here), a good number of the trees had their leaves turned crimson, though not all, so presumably I was about a week too early. (The season has since passed now).

And speaking of maple…

The final piece (before I remembered to take a photo :P )

Along with the momiji season, the stalls along the road up into the falls sold momiji tempura, which is basically the treated leaves of the maple trees fried in batter. More of a novelty snack that tastes of maple syrup flavoured batter (the leaf itself barely has a presence, let alone a taste), but a sweet and crunchy snack it is :)

Filler post is filler, but just in case anyone wants to visit Minoh (come visit me! XD), here’s something perhaps worthwhile of (a small portion of?) your attention ;P

(Oh wait, just read that Wikipedia page on Minoh – apparently the very first Mister Donut store in Japan was opened here??? *tries to imagine which one of the many branches I’ve been to around here it could be…*)