Kyoto and Nara

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I found the foreigners, they're all in Kyoto!

Whilst there were some nice things to see in Kyoto, it was the social side which I enjoyed the most. The highlight had to be the second night, when a film crew took over the hostel to make a TV show. A "famous comedian" and his sidekick interviewed us crazy foreign backpackers, then invited us to eat sushi. Unexpectedly this proved to be quite tasty, and didn't involve any nasty/"hilarious" surprises like containing laxative. The show incidently is called "Naru Tomo", I suspect I'll never get to see it.

Talking of sushi, my opinion has miraculously reversed! This was mainly due to the discovery of a revolving sushi restaurant in Kyoto station called Musashi. It charged a meer 137 yen (65p) for any dish, each of which was delicious. I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone visiting Kyoto.

Nara is a 45 minute train ride from Kyoto, and is famous for it's sacred deer which freely roam the city, and more importantly for being the most ancient capital of Japan. The highlight for me was the gigantic Todai-ji temple, which houses the second biggest Buddha statue in the country.

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Photos

Binzuru
I'm fairly sure this is Binzuru, a follower of Buddha. If you rub the appropriate body part of his statue, your aches and pains will disappear, apparently.

Kinkakuji
The very beautiful Golden Pavillion.

Bullet Train
Kyoto station. I think this might be a "Nozomi" which is the fastest of all (and the only one I can't ride using my rail pass).

Todai-ji
The biggest wooden structure in the world, and it used to be 50% bigger before it burnt down (a recurring theme in ancient Japanese archetecture).

Comedians
These are those famous Japanese comedians, during filming.

Comments

[Edd]

Some nice pictures! Those guys don't look as cool as Ant and Dec though I'm afraid. Hope you're having a good time!