After Kyoto, Nara.

After our time in Kyoto, Momo and I took the train to Nara, one of the ancient capitals of Japan. We were there to see some important temples and the quasi-domesticated deer that roam the parks and temples there.




Some of the aforementioned deer. Here's a sobering note I found on a Nara travel website:

Stay safe
The deer in Nara park tend to be friendly and perhaps overly eager to eat shika-senbei cookies from the hands of tourists, but you should avoid deer which have antlers. They can be aggressive and their antlers can injure you.

This is Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden structure in the world (though this fact is a contentious one) and home to Japan's largest Buddha (an uncontested fact). In person, it's big.


REALLY big.


The entrance to Todaiji.


The Buddha inside. The photograph doesn't do it justice. Some quick stats:

The size of the Buddha

• Height : 14.98 meters (49 feet)
• Face : 5.33 meters (17.5 feet)
• Eyes : 1.02 meters (3 feet)
• Nose : 0.5 meters (1.6 feet)
• Ears : 2.54 meters (8 feet)
• Weight : 500 metric tonnes (1,102,311 pounds)

That's one big buddha.

Photo from Handbook on Viewing Buddhist Statues, Ishii, Ayako (Ikeda, 1983). Amazon


Burning incense at the entrance to Todaiji. You drop 100 yen (80 cents) in the box and light a stick, and then waft the smoke on whatever part of you that needs help. I tried to get it around my head.




The definition of juxtaposition. The computers are for having some sort of metal piece engraved with your name or some such.


Another part of the temple complex.


Notice anything different?


Magic noodles.


At Mr. Donut in Nara.


Our sad hotel room in Nara.


Like an airplane bathroom with a shower.



The complimentary yukatas were nice, however.


Waiting near Yakushiji Temple for the bus to take us to a Horyuji Temple on the outskirts of Nara.


At Horyuji Temple.




These guardians are STACKED! Look at those abs!






Cute dog.


Due to the time of year, there were a lot of women in Kimonos walking around. This one has a modern design.


Panoramic shot of Horyuji Temple.


Audio of Monks chanting at Horyuji temple. Normally, visitors to the temple would not get to experience this; an exception was made due to the New Year holiday. I actually didn't see the monks myself - there was a sizeable crowd in the hallway where the opening to the room was and I didn't bother pushing through to see. I stood in front of the paper sliding door (shijo) to the room where the monks had left their sandals and captured this.


The train station at Osaka on the way back to Tokyo. This is January 3rd. Since New Year's is probably the biggest holiday in Japan, and the holiday that most people return home for, this is one of the busiest travel days of the year; It is equivalent to the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the states, except that trans are the primary means of travel. The parallels even translate into media coverage - there are just as many stories about crowded trains on Japanese news as there are about crowded highways on US news stations around Thanksgiving.

Given the choice, I'll take crowded trains.