Splendors of Japan
Day Nine – 19 May 2014
Nara
Weather: Hotter, Hotter, Hotter. But a comfortable hot.
I realized as I was taking my shower that the crease in my hair where my scalp is slightly exposed is sun burned so the first thing to pick up today is a hat. I didn’t have to wait as long in the breakfast line this morning and sat next to the solos from the shorter tour. 
This is their last day and it sounds as though they had as much fun as we did. We took some pics and I was off to go to the Kyoto Tower when I ran into one of the solos on my tour and she said she’d like to go along so I had a tea while she finished her breakfast and we were off just after 9.
It’s only a short drive to the Tower from the hotel. It can be walked but while my foot is feeling better today, it’s not feeling that much better. And it’s less than $7 to take a taxi. What is cute about the taxis is that the back door is controlled by the driver. He can open and close it automatically. So you could be standing on the curb, indicate that you want the cab and the door pops open for you. Taxis are completely safe to use here.
There is no line up for the tower at all. We buy a ticket (about $8) and take the elevator to the 11th floor of the main complex. From there, it’s up to 131 m in the tower (by elevator). This is a small, almost intimate viewing platform. Tiny compared to the Tokyo Skytower and it has binoculars set up to view the city (all free). The views are to the horizon no problem.
Kyoto is built inside a huge valley surrounded by mountains (or is it a caldera? I’ll have to ask Kimiko). You can watch the bullet trains leave the Kyoto station below as well.
We spent about 20 minutes to have a good look around then went down to do a little shopping. I actually found a t-shirt (but in Japanese characters. The attendant said the characters say “why?” I had picked “I love you” but switched it up since I plan to wear it in Japan. LOL).
We walked a short distance with not too many complaints from my foot. We stopped for ice cream at Baskin Robbins and noticed a little museum dedicated to the Gion float festival and watched a video of how they reassemble the float and showed the floats in the parade with people inside. They also showed how they turn the float. No third wheel. They lay bamboo on the ground and use brute force to turn the float 90 degrees.
When we were done, we hopped a cab back to the hotel. Again, not even $7. I picked up a coke at the 7/11 across the street and spent an hour relaxing before the departure for the Nara optional.
The optional actually departs from another location (it’s like taking a half day tour on your own) so the 16 of us going together all got cabs arranged by Kimiko. It was less than $10 for the cab so just over $2 each. There are cabs in the city which use the 3 leaf clover as a logo but Kimiko told us that there is one or two cabs that have a four leave clover instead and if you get that one, you get a certificate to say you were in the lucky cab.
We arrived at the hotel and there was a desk there with the staff to check us in. Next to them was an exchange machine that you might see around where you can just feed it other currencies and it gives you Yen at a fair exchange rate. Haven’t tried it yet but I got some Yen from the 7/11 ATM no problem.
The 16 of us are taking this tour with others and the bus is full. Our guide is Yumi – pronounced You-Me. Not Me-You. You-Me.
She tells us that Nara is the ancient capital of Japan but that it was moved to Kyoto because the emperor feared the monks were becoming too involved in political matters. Nara has 370,000 people and forms the third point on the Kyoto-Osaka-Nara triangle. The city is only about 40 km from centre Kyoto but the drive is about 1 hour.
Yumi asks how many of us own Japanese cars and about half the bus raised their arms. She bowed and said thank you. LOL
She spoke about the hi-tech toilets and said that 70% of Japanese have the heated seats and said that the happiest part of their morning is going to the washroom.
And I imagine every one of us will go home and investigate how to get a heated bathroom seat.
Our first stop is to Tōdai-ji Buddist Temple where the world’s largest bronze Budda lives. It’s on the grounds of the Nara Park with is quite large – about 4 x 6 kilometres I think I heard. The park is home to 1100 deer, a population that stays fairly steady. The deer are sacred and if you were caught killing one, you could find yourself in prison or sentenced to death.
So, if you woke up to find a deer had died on your property, you either got caught or picked up the deer and laid it on your neighbour’s property. It’s known as “passing the buck.”
Heh.
Apparently, the area is known for its early risers as everyone tried to be awake before their neighbour.
We can feed the deer for 150 Yen ($1.50) with crackers and if we hold the cracker up, it will bow for the food. I took video of one deer with a bum eye bowing for me. We get to say hello to a few hundred deer (and a few hundred thousand school kids) as Yumi directs us towards the entrance to the temple where two large statues are placed behind a screen just inside the entrance way as guardians.
They are the alpha and omega of Buddism. Inside the grounds is a huge temple and inside is the world’s largest bronze Budda.
It used to be gold but the temple had burned down 800 and again 400 years ago and it lost the coating. It was reconstructed 300 years ago and the head recast at that time. The body, however, is the original 1250 year old Budda. It weighs 380 tonnes.
About as much as I have put on since I got here. Too much Coca-Cola, for sure.
The Budda has its right hand up to indicate that one should not be afraid and the left hand out flat as if to grant wishes. There is a window in the temple that is opened two days of the year so that the Budda can see outside.
We walk behind the Budda to see more guardians and a model of what the original grounds looked like with two five story pagodas to the left and right that are not there now. (But they want to rebuild).
There is a monk sitting behind a table in this area that looks like he is meditating but on closer examination, he was using his smart phone.
Back there, there was also a model of the Budda’s right hand that, when photographed from a certain angle, has a definite 20th Century western implication.
As we came around the back, we could see a line of kids and Yumi said they were crawling through a hole in the pillar which apparently is good luck. If we had tried, it would have likely been a good way to get an ambulance and fire truck…with a chain saw.
Yumi gave us some free time and I went out to feed the whole deer population. Cute little guys. It was fun to watch some of the squeamish girls run away from the deer.
We were back aboard at 4 and drove a short distance to the Kasuga Grand Shrine which was built on orders of a local aristocrat as a guardian to his family and provide peace for the capital (Nara, at the time). The entrance had the empty sake barrels and next to it were beer that had been donated to the monks. All the bottles were empty.
Ahhh…the life of a monk.
The shrine entrance is protected by a guardian in the shape of a dog and tiger. Since tigers are not native to Japan, the dog was included to make it look as fierce as possible.
From here, we pass the purification spot and climb a staircase that is lined by hundreds of stone lanterns. Today, they are only lit 3 times a year (and that must look fabulous). They are given to the shrine as a symbol of the individual’s gratitude.
At the top is the shrine with a manicured pebble lawn that we weren’t allowed to disturb. Next to it was a 1000 year old tree that had been struck by lightning but was still alive. It’s considered sacred.
In the shrine (as with all the others) there is a place where you can buy your fortune. If your fortune is good, you take it home and if it’s bad, you leave it behind, tying it to a wall of strings.
The strings were under a trellis that looked like it was supported by trees and on closer examination, we could see rebar. The “trees” were concrete.
We walked down to the bus and our next stop was to a souvenir store. It was just a 15 minute stop but finding something to snack on was hard. Never ever have I been able to stand in a store and not have the first clue what the food is. I don’t know if it’s sweets, meat, pastry. Not a clue.
I found some cookies and chowed down on them on the drive back to Kyoto. Before we left, Yumi had some people off our bus move to another bus so that we could all get dropped off at our hotels. An Indian couple at the back stopped to say something to an older gentleman on our tour and even bowed to him. I asked about this later and apparently, the Indian couple had walked ahead to get off the bus first at the Temple stop and the older gentleman had grabbed his belt and pulled him back. He told the Indian man that it was rude to move ahead when a bus was offloading. The man didn’t do it again and as he got off the bus, he thanked the older gentleman for teaching him some custom he was not aware of. Pretty cool.
On the drive back, Yumi gave us some lessons in Japanese language (that Kimiko did the next day so I will comment on it then). The bus was able to drop us off next to our hotel so no need to take a cab back from the drop off point. Some of the others went to an Irish pub a half block away.
I went back to my room and dump my foot into the basin – this time full of ice and water.
I dare you to try and leave your foot in a basin of ice and water for 10 minutes. Go ahead. Try! LOL
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