Nara

Day Trip to Nara

Nara is not as well known to foreigners as some cities like Kobe or Kyoto, but it once was the capital of Japan.  It has a lot of cultural significance to Japan.  The temple we saw there was magnificant!

On our short 35 minute train ride to Nara from Osaka, we saw some absolutely beautiful roof tiles.  They are quite common here but unusual for us.  They are covered in a deep blue glaze.  Gorgeous!  They remind me of fish scales and are multi-tonal.

Below is all the souvenir shops on one side and food concession stands which had so many delicious varieties of local tasty treats, we had to break our diet for the day and eat here!

Cassio normally does the detailed researching and he told me that at Nara I would have a surprise. That lovely and sweet surprise was that there are hundreds of deer that live in the park surrounding the Todaiji Temple.  There are vendors who sell senbei which are a type of cookie - in this case, specifically for you to feed to the deer.  I never had so much fun for 150 yen!  They are quite persistent and will bite at your butt and clothes in an effort to get your attention and more senbei!  Definitely a highlight for me and kids of all ages! Check out this cute youtube video of cute-deer-biting-action! click here to see Viddy being attacked by wild beasts!

Todaiji Temple  - Look closely and you can see the scale of this monstrous shrine!  Inside is a 15 meter tall Buddha made entirely of wood. This place is awe inspiring!

There is a massive wooden support column inside the temple that has a hole in the bottom the same size as the nostril of the 15 meter Buddha.  Here is what it says on the official Japan tourism website: Another popular attraction is a pillar with a hole in its base that is the same size as the Daibutsu's (Buddha's) nostril. It is said that those who can squeeze through this opening will be granted enlightenment in their next life.

We think that there was a special event on the day we went because there were many, many people dressed in traditonal kimonos and we had an area for seating set aside.  It could be a simple regular weekly service though.  It is hard to tell, because one gets the impression that this is an ongoing operational temple - not simply a must-see attraction.

As mentioned, we had to eat at one of the park's concession stands.  We chose a chicken teryaki type skewer and the fabulous thing on the right is a kind of a pancake with cabbage, bacon, shredded dried fish, egg, black bean sauce?, mayo, green onion.... I can't remember what else, but it was suuuuuper tasty! What a great day.