It is small cafe. First floor have one table. We have to take off shoes when we sit in here. And second floor have also 2 or 3 tables. We have to go to up stairs through narrow stairs. There are Japanese-mat(たたみ) and stairs, window,pillar... You would see all Japanese style. They has couple of menu. Several Japanese tea and coffee and several Japanese-cake of season. I recommend set menu. It include maccha and one Japanese-cake. it was 840-yen. Maccha is a bit bitter but it's suitable well with Japanese sweet cake. Please try to it.

Nara is great place as sight seeing of Japan.
I went to there with my french friend. Then I made plan of it. I wanted him to try Japanese tea.
Nara is convenient for tourist because some good place are near the Kintetsu Nara station.

We went to Todaiji at first. There is very big Buddha. I tell you that his little finger is 160cm. Oh,it's almost my height!!
And some kids pass through hole of pillar it's same size of his nose hole.
You would see that Japanese people invite smoke of candle to body. It have meaning. We invite it if we want to cure somewhere in my body. I saw that most of people invite to own head it. ;)

We can see many deer in there. And we can feed them if we buy deer foods in the street. But seems like they are already full. Sure, it's season there are many tourist. Lucky deers!

Because the sun has set we saw Kasuga shrine and Koufuku temple fast.
And we walked around Nara Machi. Then I found cafe it seems like nice Japanese old house.
We ordered Japanese-style tea and Japanese-style cake. The cake was made of sweet potato. It was not so sweet because they almost doesn't use sugar. I loved it.
I think this cafe would make nice experience for foreigner. I will recommend it if someone go to Nara.
Sure,my friend also enjoyed them.

It was good rest day for me:D

It was my first trip by myself :P haha  I'm 19, so too late ne :P

It's said 'park' but it means 'area'.

There are many tumuluses,remains and temples etc. in the Asuka period.

If you go there,you'd better rent a bike.

adress:Asuka-mura, Takaichi-gun, Nara http://www.asuka-park.go.jp/ (in Japanese)

how to get there:

From Kintetsu Namba line(��'鉄難波線),Kintetsu Namba Sta.(��'鉄難波駅) to Yamatosaidaiji Sta.(大�'�西大寺駅).

and there, change lines to Kashihara line(橿原線). from Yamatosaigaiji Sta.(大�'�西大寺駅) to Kashiharajingu-mae Sta.(橿原神宮前駅)

there change lines again to Yoshino line(吉野線). from Kashiharajingu-mae Sta.(橿原神宮前駅) to Asuka Sta.(飛鳥駅)

you can rent a bike near Asuka Sta.　￥900~1000 a day

profitable ticket:Asuka meguri Free ticket　￥1380 http://www.kintetsu.co.jp/senden/Railway/Ticket/A30038b.html (in Japanese)

�'�two-way ticket of Kintetsu train

�'�you can enter some place with discount price

We arrived to Kyoto in the early afternoon and were pleased to find out that our hotel was directly above the train station, in a building with a very impressive and unique architectural style. This building has several different stories with different features including a mall, an enormous food court, a movie theater and our hotel, the Hotel Granvia Kyoto. Our hotel turned out to be surprisingly upscale, especially since we had only paid an $125 per night rate on hotels.com. In fact, Yasu was surprised when we told him that we were staying at this hotel, especially when he heard how much it had cost us. Apparently we got a really great deal...

Our hotel's location was nicredibly convenient because it was right, smack in the middle of central Kyoto and across the street from the Kyoto tower, a Starbucks, several Pachinko parlors and lots of little shops. Right after we arrived we crossed the street and enjoyed green tea frappuccinos at Starbucks and did some people-watching. People in Kyoto definitely seemed more reserved and traditional than the ones we had seen in Tokyo, with the exception of the tourists of course. We saw several scantily clad foreigners with their nose buried in travel books and Japanese-English dictionaries walking down the street. There were more tourists in Kyoto than I had seen anywhere in Tokyo or anywhere else that I've ever been, for that matter (well, with the exception of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.) We then went back to the hotel and took a nap before going out to explore Gion, which is perhaps Kyoto's most famous historic neighborhood, due in part to the popularity to Arthur Golden's novel "Memoirs of a Geisha".

Japan's first imperial capital in Japan was established in the year 710 at Heijo, the city now known as Nara. As the influence and political ambitions of the city's powerful Budhists monasteries grew to become a serious threat to the government, the capital was moved to Nagaoka in 784.

. There are many other old, famous buildings and sights in the area, but perhaps the most beautiful is the approach to Kasuga Taisha, where stone lanterns line the wooded, secluded path. South of Nara-koen is Nara-machi, an old residential district still peppered with traditional buildings and narrow alleyways that is well worth a visit.

Oh I will never have enought of Japan!!!

I was so busy that I didnt had time to write here anything. Anyway I was in Osaka and discovering all of the places by rented bike :) Still cant belive that I hadsuch a great idea by renting it!! I could see all thosesmall temples and interesting buildings that I wouldnt see just walking because Osaka is soooo big!

 I've decided to go to Nara. I was so lucky that day!!! The most unexpected thing happened to me there.When I left the station and turn into themain street, some guy (older guy) aks me ifIam looking for something in Nara.I just thought that he is another nice man like the one in Oskaa castle who showed me around, and I showed him one temple on the map..he guided me thre and told something about it..but then he showed me a whole nara, bought tickets to every entry and at the evening invited to his houseso we could eat something with his wife together...normally Iwouldnt agree but he didnt look like a pervert and he was realy serious about me studying japanese culture and so on. It was my first time I was in japanese house..itwas quite smallbut I liked it and his wife was so kind!

They invited me to sushibar and I could see how it was maid andhad a nice chat with the guys behind  the bar. That day was some festival in Nara and hundrets of volountaries were arranging candles inthe whole city. When it got dark, all of them were so beautifull..My new friends  showed me the most popular place..there were beautiful girls in yukata, and there was no street lights. just the candles. So romantic!!

At the end they bought me a hello kitty dresedinto the deer suit;)

I was so lucky!!

Leaving Kyoto for our afternoon trip to Nara, we  passed two of the tallest pagodas in Japan. About an hour after we left Kyoto, we arrived in Nara. The first stop on our agenda was to visit the Todai-ji Temple and Deer Park. The Todai-ji temple is a Buddhist temple  made of wood, and it is said to be the tallest wooden building in the world. Inside of the temple is a statue of the Great Buddha Daibutsu, almost 15 meters tall! It is very impressive. Although it looks large in pictures, one cannot truly understand how immense the statue is unless  you are either there to see it for yourself or you have something to compare it to. Fortunately, right before we left, I noticed a man extinguishing some candles at the base of the Buddha, and was able to take a picture with him in the foreground and the Buddha in the background. The base of Buddha is taller than the man, who is of average height. We also saw some statues of guardians of the Buddha, two of which were in its entirety, and two other statues whose heads only were displayed. The original Buddha was created in the 700s and was made of bronze. Throughout time, parts of it has been restored, most recently being the head in the 1700s.

As you exit the temple, you are walking on the grounds of Deer Park, where hundreds of deer roam freely. While some of the deer chose to rest nonchalantly in the shade, most of the deer decided to greet their visitors in hopes of getting treats. We saw one man being surrounded by at least 5 or 6 deer, and another kid with a cookie in his hand who was being followed by young deer. The sika deer (think Bambi) are said to be sacred.

On the outskirts of Nara Park is the Kasuga Shrine. This Shinto shrine is known for its many lanterns. There are over a thousand stone lanterns that line the path to the various shrines and tori-i on the property. The lanterns are lit during major Shinto ceremonies, and the neighboring forest is said to have a spiritual sense about it. What was really cool was that there was an old tree trunk that had a young tree growing in the middle of it. It reminds us that there truly is a circle of life, and everything old is new again!

When we returned to Kyoto after our trip to Nara, Chris and I decided to visit the Kyoto Tower. We went up at an ideal time - we were able to watch the beginning of sunset over the mountains. We took some pictutes, had our picture taken with the Kyoto Tower mascot, and headed into the mall at the train station to find food for dinner. Although I wanted to have a noodle dish or some other authentic cuisine, Chris wanted something more familiar, so we finally agreed to eat at an italian restaurant in the mall. When we finished eating, we walked around the mall for awhile and then decided to return to the hotel room early and relax for the remainder of the evening.

Slept in a little (woke up a little after 8) and took a 10AM train to Nara.  Around a 50 minute train ride from Namba station on the Kintetsu Nara line (which let’s you off closer to Nara Park than JR).  Train was mostly empty until the last station before Nara.  At the station I got some maps and info from the very helpful people at the info desk, including advice on how best to get to Horyuji later that afternoon, then headed into the park.

Now I had heard about there being deer roaming around the park, but figured they’d be hard to spot and that with my luck, I’d go all day without seeing one.  No chance of that!  These deer are 100% domesticated by all the deer cookies and flock around the tourist areas for the goodies.  And they are everywhere!

Walked through Nara park through the Kofuku-ji Temple area, through the national museum and then up to Todai-ji Temple.  Everyone had told me that Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto was the best there was, but I have to say, Todai-ji is IMPRESSIVE!  This building is huge, and supposedly it’s only 2/3 the original size!  And the Daibutsu statue inside is even bigger than the one in Kamakura!  This temple truly impressed me.  It was fun watching the kids crawling through the hole in the pillar; legend is if you can fit through the hole, you will reach enlightenment.  Guess I need to wait for the next lifetime…

From Todai-ji I walked up the hill to Nigatsu-do (nice views) and Hokke-do (nice statues…no pictures allowed) then down to Kasuga Taisha shrine, which was, unfortunately, closed for the main part due to a wedding.  Walking through the part is very nice though, and well worth it in and of itself.

From here, walked down to the JR Nara station to catch the train to my next stop, Horyuji Temple.

Today started off being sunny and warm like the rest of the days have been, but who would’ve guessed it would end cold and rainy?! After today I really wanted to go back to Hakone and spend sometime in the hot springs! At least it didn’t start raining until after we’d finished our sightseeing for the day.

We went to Kyoto station and took the train out to Nara which was the capitol of Japan before Kyoto was, back in the eighth century. It’s about an hour trip from Kyoto to Nara, but I’m pretty sure I fell asleep along the way! I wonder why it’s so easy to fall asleep on trains and yet so hard to do so on planes?

At Nara we quickly discovered that the park, which is renowned for its deer, is in fact ruled by the deer! They were everywhere! Demanding food and attention as an admittance price! I saw one chasing after a girl who had given it food, literally chasing her! Another deer ate part of Dr. Yang’s map! These deer were a lot different than the deer back home. They were smaller and tamer and cleverer and while back home we try to get rid of deer when there’s overpopulation, here they are considered sacred animals and are allowed to have the run of the roost!

We weren’t just at Nara to pay our dues to the deer, and the first place we visited was a temple which was famous for its pagoda, the second highest pagoda in all of Japan. Another place we visited was one of the oldest Shinto Shrines in Japan and lastly, we paid a visit to Todai-ji temple, which is the largest wooden structure in the world! It is also home to the largest Buddha image in Japan, and the large Bronze statue is housed within the temple! It was really surprising to learn that the whole thing��"since it had been rebuilt due to an earthquake��"was only 2/3 the original size! It was almost impossible to imagine how the place could be bigger! I also enjoyed the looming statues behind the Buddha and found it interesting that they kept some of the broken pieces from previous statues around. There was a pile of heads in the corner! Outside there was another statue and apparently if you rub him wherever you have an ache or pain, the ache or pain will go away. So I rubbed his foot but it didn’t help any! My feet still hurt!

It started to rain as we were leaving Todai-ji, but we were given two hours to explore on our own, so after milling through a few shops Nadean, Amanda, and I went on the search for something to eat. We were pretty much running from awning to awning to try to keep dry and it didn’t take us long to find a restaurant��"really a café��"to eat at! It was called Drink Drank and was super cute and retro styled! The waitress there noticed Nadean’s Nana umbrella (Nana is a really popular manga, anime, and live action series) and she told us that she really liked Nana too! I could see why! She dressed a lot like one of the main characters and even the café reminded me of the place where that character worked! I thought that was pretty cool, almost like we met the real Nana! Anyways, the food we ate there was super good, especially the soup! It was cream of corn soup I think and it was the first time we’d seen corn since being in Japan! It was really surprising!

We realized if we didn’t hurry we’d be late for meeting our group at the train station, so we didn’t get to go to the 100 yen shop like we’d plan to. Instead we had to run through the rain and puddles to get to the station where we were about five minutes late, but still not the last ones to arrive. Everyone was cold and wet and inside the station it wasn’t any warmer, but at least we were fed! The train ride back to Kyoto seemed a lot longer than it had going to Nara. Maybe that was because it was getting dark out and it was still raining. Luckily back at the hotel, Nadean and I still had a pack of instant rice to make later so that we didn’t have to go out to find dinner. I also enjoyed the fact that the hotel had a communal kitchen that we could use anytime! Especially since tonight the kitchen wasn’t masquerading as a bar like it was yesterday!

I was sooo tired after today I took a nap until about eight thirty PM! I probably could have slept right through the night if I hadn’t wanted to make the rice before we left the hotel in the morning! So I made my rice and sat down at the little table to watch some Japanese Drama TV shows. Even though I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I enjoyed trying to figure out the plots! When I get home I might have to look up some of these shows and see if I can find them with subtitles!

It was a good night to be lazy though with the rain still falling outside. Tomorrow we leave Kyoto and make the long journey to Hiroshima.

Journal Entry:

2007.07.12

Just walked out of Todaiji, walking up a pathway, beneath a canopy of japanese maples, and i get this intense need to write.  Not since i left Tokyo have i written something; really this  is the first pause i have had in days.  Cicadas are going strong, blanketing the auditory environment, coming from all directions.  Although rain comes down in small snipplets, the heat is on, and mixed with the constant barrage of cicadas, drives one's mind completely haywire.  The sound eminates from all directions, and in all directions one's mind seems to spin.  The occasional crow caw adds the bass line, and the local birds and insects the woodwinds, til a Nara forest symphony hums at a pitch all around, serenading the late morning light...the soundtrack for two weary feet, wandering into obscurity perhaps.  wandering into doom perhaps.  wandering into heaven maybe.  wandering, wandering back and forth into the eddies of my own consciousness, definitely.

And so my feet, weary of the world behind them, wander this way and that way, into the cobwebs of maples, of cicadas, of divine messengers...and i follow, steadily along.  wondering where they'll take me next.  All grasp at agency gone, i get lost within myself some more.  hope we wander into some lunch soon...im hungry.

- for Orville @ Nara, @ the VIVRE department store, south of the Kintetsu station, walked by at 6:00pm, and heard a song: Alezee.

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 option: Hermanos, a vegetarian-friendly Mexican restaurant. Walk walk walk. Rain rain rain. And...also closed.

Finally we ducked into a mixed-bag type of Japanese restaurant that served just about everything. The waitress was very timid with her English, but together we found the one vegetarian option on the menu (I was confused though...just because the omelet is listed with bacon in it doesn't mean they have to make it that way, does it? Can't they just leave it out? Apparently not.).

I had a cheese pizza and green salad (excellent!) and Steve had something that combined spaghetti noodles with battered, fried squid and a thick brown sauce (not excellent, but he finished it). It was brought out on a super-hot iron platter fitted with a cardboard collar to guard against the sizzling sauce. Our lunch was cheap: about $15 including coffee and tea. One of us left very happy.

From there, Steve wanted to visit the electronics stores in Den Den town. I wanted to go back to Nara and check out the actual town. So we split up to do our own thing.  First I stopped in the room to get the umbrella. (We found it abandoned on the street our second day here. It has one little hole.) Fearing water damage, I decided to leave my main camera behind, carrying only my little portable Canon Elph. This lightened my load considerably.

I then headed to the station, bought my ticket, and got on the right train, all without getting lost. Good first step! In Nara, I went to the tourist office again, to get a better map of the town. They didn't have one, and I was told that the shops are all...closed on Monday! Well. Dang.

I headed off to the covered street near the station and found several stores open. I think they mostly catered to tourists, selling candies shaped like deer poop and the like. I stopped into a store that was like a combination K-Mart/Office Depot and browsed around for a long time. I bought some fun little gifts and candies, all very cheap. From there I walked and walked (in straight lines from the station so as not to get lost!), getting my feet drenched, and finding that most of the stores were indeed closed. Hey, at least there were no crowds to contend with!

I went back into the park and saw a few miserable, drenched deer. There were a couple other determined tourists, ditching the umbrellas for quick photos in front of the pagodas. I went to the pond but even the turtles were closed on Monday.

By then my feet were making squishing sounds and it was time to go back. The train was pretty empty and I got a seat right away. The lady next to me kept falling asleep, her head nearly hitting her lap before snapping up again. A schoolgirl, 14 or 15 years old, kept sniffling.  She finally wiped her nose with her hand and then cleaned off her hand on the seat next to her. This method worked out pretty well for her, and she did it repeatedly until a guy sat on her snot receptacle. (I understand it's considered rude to blow your nose in Japan.)

Steve and I met up back at the room in the late afternoon. There was nothing for him at Den Den town, but he was able to stock up on Nicorette at a pharmacy. We went back to our grocery store and probably bought too much stuff for our 3 remaining days. Fruit, vegetables, and real Kellogg's corn flakes this time.

Back to the room to make dinner and to check the forecast. It's supposed to rain...but at least the shops will be open, right? Our plan for tomorrow is to head to Kobe for a sake brewery and museums. Oh, and I here there's some special beef there. Do you think they have a vegetarian version :^)

Today's daytrip destination was Nara. Nara has several things to recommend it, but foremost for us: it's not Kyoto!

Nara is another of Japan's historic gems (almost 1300 years old!), east of Osaka and south of Kyoto. It is about 40 minutes away from Osaka's Namba station on the slow train. We decided it was a good sign that the train was fairly empty -- let the tourists converge in Kyoto! We hoped Nara would not be as busy.

We were greeted at the Nara station by a concert band, playing outside in the sunlight. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. We stayed to listen to a few songs -- the best description I can give of the music is "Japanese-influenced-Sousa. " Good or bad, live music always entertains. This was good.

Our plan was to spend the day in the park, Nara-Koen, visiting its temples, ponds, and the tame deer found everywhere. But first we had to find lunch, so we perused the cafes just outside the park. The famous meal here is called kaiseki, a multicourse meal that involves many little plates and bowls. I really wanted to have this. We found a place that looked good, but when I said I was vegetarian, we were waved away -- nothing here for you! Damn.  Finally we found a tiny place with some vegetarian-looking fake food outside. We asked the lady, and yes, there was one thing for me to eat: noodles in broth with "mountain vegetables," which ended up being moss or something very much like moss. Steve's non-vegetarian dish was served with miso soup, rice, pickled vegetables...why didn't they give me those things as well? My single bowl of brown noodles in brown broth was a far cry from the kaiseki extravaganze I had hoped for. The moss wasn't the only thing at the table that was bitter.

Next we went to the park, where children were proferring rice crackers to bored deer. The jaded deer near the entrance were disinterested in the crackers, but further on in the park the deer were more hungry, and more shy. The more patient, quiet children would be rewarded when a timid deer would oh-so-slowly approach and take the cracker.

The deer were pretty large and reminded me more of reindeer than the more delicate white tail deer where I grew up in Minnesota. They were pretty ragged looking beasts -- I think they were losing their winter coats. The park has about 1200 of these deer, according to Fodor's.

There is some really good stuff to see in Nara-Koen. The Todai-ji temple in the north section dates from 752, although the buildings were burned, reconstructed, and burned again. I think only one building, San-gatsu-do (Third Month Temple), actually dates from that time (and we missed it).

You enter the Todai-ji area through the Great Southern Gate, or nandai-mon, which we thought was the main attraction when we saw it -- it's enormous! But the main draw is the Hall of the Great Buddha, Daibutsu-den. This building was reconstructed in 1709 at two-thirds its original scale, yet still claims fame as one of the largest wooden structures in the world. It's really spectacular. It houses a 53-foot bronze buddha - that's one big ass buddha! There were a couple of smaller scale buddhas too. It was all very interesting... this was my favorite visit so far in Japan.

From there we visited a beautiful bronze bell cast in 752 (!), then we walked up to Kasuga Taisha, a monument surrounded by 3,000 stone lanterns. There were lanterns lining the long path to the monument, and grouped everywhere around the area. It would have been fantastic to see them lit, but that only happens on 3 days of the year, and April 6 is not one of them.

There were lots of visitors in Nara park, but the crowds were nowhere near as formidible as they had been in Kyoto. It really helped that there were spacious, wide open area everywhere to accommodate all the people. It was a much more peaceful place than Kyoto.

Tomorrow the forecase is rain. We are considering a trip to Koya-san, or Kobe. Or maybe back to Nara. Oh, well we'll figure it out tomorrow!

Akiko decided she wanted to have some more friend time without me hanging around so I decided to meet up with her brother and see him one last time.  He told me to meet him in a central Osaka shopping center next to what is called the Rocket Ship.  Not sure why there is a huge rocket model in the middle of the shopping center but it makes a very easy to find meeting place. 

I went into Osaka hours early so I could just wander around on my own and and that was what I was doing when I heard a thickly accented male voice say "I hope you speak English.".  I found, or more truthfully I was found by, a young Scot guy that looked desperate and lost.  Her had tried to get a cheap hotel but either they were full or would could not communicate with him.  It was a holiday week in Japan but some of the cheaper hotels in Japan do not seem to like to do business with foreigners that do not speak Japanese.  It was getting late when he found me so he was very worried where he was going to stay so I knew I would need to help him.  Good thing for him that I was just about ot head off to meet my brother-in-law and I knew Daisuke could help.

Not only was Daisuke willing to help he was excited to have the Scot stay at his place.  So after a quick coffee at a Starbucks we headed off to meet Daisuke's wife and then off to a noodle cafe for dinner.  I am not so sure Kimiko was as happy to have the extra body in her house as I was already going to stay over and we all know how small Japanese homes are.

Another funny thing happened in the cafe.  This restaurant was under one of the main Osaka JR stations and for some reason it did not have its own restrooms.  Anytime you felt nature call you had to leave the restaurant and head into the main station to take of business.  The funny thing is that every time you enter most Japanese businesses the staff welcome to you and every time you leave they yell thank you.  We were partying pretty good and beer seems to go right through me so I was in and out of the cafe quite often.  So I was thanked, welcomed, thanked again and welcomed once more.  The first couple of times it was funny but after a while it was a bit tiresome but still kind of funny.

The next day we all left for Nara to see one more temple.  The temple in Nara has one of the largest Buddhas in the world.  It really really is huge.  Each ringlet of hair on the Buddha's head is the size of a man.  In fact you could somewhat easily crawl through the ringlet if it was not so high up and the fact you would quickly get arrested by the local police.  The visit to the temple was helped by the fact that Daisuke new a fair amount about it and he could tell us a few things to make what we were seeing make more sense.  It was slightly ruined by the fact the temple had several gift shops selling of all things Hello Kitty dolls. 

After lunch Daisuke found a hotel for our Scottish friend for the next few days.  We took him to the local JR station and gave him clear directions on what trains to take and where to get off.  After we said good bye and started to drive away we suddenly realized we still had his  backpack in the trunk of the car.  I quickly ran back into the station and thankfully found the guy as he was still trying to understand the ticketing machine.  He had not even realized that he was missing his pack. 

... then he has beaten japan at its own game: turbo-sightseeing! hai!



after the unproductive last few days nara had to be conquered in only a few hours today and that mission was accomplished! not only that but brave marco-san also changed the hostel and is close to becoming a tv star in japan! and he didn't need a bus and a bus load of swiss to succeed, he just captured a deer for the speed boost and did nara cowboy style! kidding



but let's start in the morning and switch to the less heroic first person view.

i wanted to get up at about 7, changed that while sleeping to 8 and finally got up at about 8:30 because i was so happy about my productive evening the night before: i caught up with some of the lost episodes i am lagging behind and it was so satisfying to get some lost-fix after that long long while (eko!!! freckles you slut!)



anyways, no sweat this night, no waking up in the middle of it. i slept like a baby and woke up full with energy for nara (and the 15 minutes walk to my new hostel...)
i'm staying in the j hoppers kyoto now, the sister-hostel to the one i was at in hiroshima, and i knew instantly that it was a good choice to switch!

i hurried to the station where the nara train just arrived and so i was on my way to japan's first capital

nara is amazing! imagine a historical town, full with japanese temples, sculptures, plants, etc and everywhere deer roaming around! i am not kidding, the animals are everywhere (especially at places where you can buy deer food...) and don't run away if you come near. they happily approach you as a flock if you walk around eating nuts (that was my speed boost mentioned above hehe)



being here at night or during cherry blossom weeks must be breathtaking! its not possible to describe how beautiful it is even now and pictures can't tell the full story



but since i don't want to write a novel about my path through nara the pictures have to tell at least the short story...



ah, the tv star bit: i got interviewed by some tv crew that made a report about why tourists stay in kyoto rather than in nara hehe



now back in kyoto i deserved to watch the next missing lost episodes! or at least i would love to if this obnoxious english bloke here in the hostel wouldn't stop trying to hit on the japanese staff girl, its so ridiculous that's its funny.

flickr set: nara

I went to Nara University of Education for the Japan Outdoor Education Society conference.  The conference was neat although I was confused for about 90% of it (the whole language thing can hinder the learning process at times).  But Nara is amazing.  It is one of the original capitals of Japan (before Kyoto and Tokyo).  Cool Shrines and Temples.  Plus the largest brass statue in the world.  That is one big Buddha.  And the typhoon that hit was interesting.  Everything got wet.  And one can’t forget the food.  Oh the food.  Such great food and great plum wine.