We woke up this morning to a drizzly Japanese day. Once we got our act together, the three of us bought $3 umbrellas and took the train to Nara. The former capital of Japan, Nara is home to the Todaiji Temple and several other temples and natural landscapes designated as UNESCO heritage sites. Nara is one of the few cities where the scenic beauty of Japan mixes seamlessly with the many historical buildings in near perfect harmony.
The first encounter you have in Nara, even before reaching one of the temples is with Nara's other permanent residents - the deer. These creatures, wander the streets approaching tourists, they are very friendly and approachable. They are even rumored to be the most polite deer in the world, since if you come face to face with one of the Nara deer and bow, the deer will bow back. It was our observation that the deer weren't actually bowing as a courtesy, but in the hopes that you may have dropped some food for them on the ground.
We began our day at Todai-ji. This large Buddhist temple not only houses one of Japan's largest Buddhas but it also is considered to be the world's largest wooden building. Walking beneath the huge wooden structure, we were astounded at the detail and the ability to build such enormous buildings - then we realized that this was only the gate to the Temple!
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Above: Todai-ji as seen from the outside. When we visited, it was experiencing some renovations but the structure is still an imposing size. If you look close enough you can see workers working in front of the doors.
Right: The Todai-ji Buddha. Once again huge! The scale is represented by the man standing in front. The Buddha is made of cast bronze then plated with gold.
Below: One of the lakes in Nara. The rain stopped long enough for Jill to take this wonderful picture, demonstrating just how peaceful this city was compared to busy Osaka. |
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Following this temple we wandered around the city to a few other popular spots. It is amazing to see many of the houses in Nara with the typical 'Japanese' roofs and walled courtyards - it was even more amazing to see that they were still lived in, all the while managing to fit into the landscape of the historic city.
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Above: A view from one of the temples high above Nara.
Left: Chris washes away his sins before going into a Buddhist temple.
Below Left: Always time to pose.
Below Right: Kofukuji Temple - a 5 storied pagoda built in the year 710.
Below, Below Left: Encountering the Nara deer. |
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The Nara trip ended with the rain finally stopping, just in time for us to get back to Osaka. There we went to an Indian restaurant, a real treat - much better than sushi in our opinions.
The other excitement of the day is that we splurged a little and bought an iPod at an the Osaka equivalent of the Future Shop. For the nerds out there, we got the 80gb video model, and I am busy filling it up with music for the train ride tomorrow - when we hit the city where the climate never changes - Kyoto (I know it's a bad joke).
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