Nara Travel and Tourism Guide

While we were in Kyoto and Nara, the biggest challenge was to keep our five-year-old son entertained. Most attractions in these old capital cities are shrines and temples, and that's what we (my husband and I, the grown-ups) wanted to see. But, obviously, these historical sites are not so exciting for a little guy. I mean, how many old temples can a five-year-old see without fussing?  My son's impression on Nijo Castle was "Dark, stinky, and spooky!", and that on the rock garden at Ryoan...

Dang, the forecast was correct. Woke up to leaden skies and rain, rain, rain. In no rush to get wet, we killed time in the room until hunger and dearth of groceries sent us out in a search for sustenance. I did a quick search online and found two vegetarian-friendly options here in Osaka... off we went to find the first one, Maman Terrace. It was hard to find, the route we took was mainly uncovered, and we were soaked by the time we got there.  It was closed. No worries, there is another...

Nara is the city that flows with deer and ancient history. in that order, since the deer seem to have outshone the cultural artifacts in this smaller, more manageable version of Kyoto. Nara was the ancient acoital before kyoto and later toyko (then called edo) but only for about 75 yrs (this was around the late 790s).  First, the culture. there are a lot of ancient artifacts and statues, primarily wooden, from the heian and kamakura periods around the 13th and 12th centuries. I hit ...

Here are some pictures of my trip to Japan from 15 August - 21 August 2007. I visited Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Himeji.