Blogs from Nara, Japan, Asia

Late start today because Krissy and Oscar slept in until 8:30. We still managed to catch the 9:30 train to Nara and got there about an hour later after one train change. As usual we picked up some buns for breakfast and with just 10 minutes to spare Krissy decided to line up at Starbucks for coffees and matcha latte and made an order. Daisy and I waited for the drinks so Krissy and Oscar would have time to find an elevator if needed. We just made it in time at 9.30 and got to Kintetsu-Nara station just over an hour later. We started walking towards Nara Park and there were deer everywhere on the footpath outside the park. Vendors are selling Deer crackers at strategic places for $2. We bought some and entered the park ... read more

Heute hatte ich zum ersten Mal japanisches Frühstück. Es ist eher herzhaft statt süß, aber da ich nicht weiß, ob ich es in den anderen Hotels auch noch habe, werde ich es die nächsten drei Tage beibehalten. Danach nahm ich U-Bahn und Nahverkehrszug nach Nara, wo sich einer der größten Bronze-Buddhas im Tempel Todai-ji befindet. Zum Glück hatte ich vorher gut recherchiert und wusste, dass dort ein Touristenbus vom Bahnhof zum Ziel fährt. Den konnte ich ohne Probleme benutzen. Am Gelände angekommen fielen einem die vielen zahmen Rehe auf. Was es dafür aber für eine Bewandtnis hat, weiß ich nicht. Ich musste auch zum ersten Mal auf dieser Reise einen moderaten Eintritt bezahlen. Dazu gab es ein Schild wo darauf stand, dass man im Inneren keine Fotos machen soll. Die meisten Leute hielten sich aber nicht ... read more

It seems that when most people travel to Japan, or even just think of Japan, it is the sights on Honshu that appeal the most: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Hakone, etc. One of my aims of this little Japanese blog series is to get people to look beyond Honshu as the other islands of Japan are fantastic. However, after writing this blog and looking again at my photos, I’ve re-remembered why Honshu is rightly very popular and you could travel for months without stepping off it. Cities Tokyo is like nowhere else. It is massive and busy but it works. Where we lived at the other end of the country in Fukuoka has a population of 1.5 million, thus it isn’t small by any means, but Tokyo seems like another world in comparison. I lived in Tokyo ... read more

If you’re visiting Kyoto you’re probably going to make a side trip to Nara, where you can view the one of the world’s largest bronze Buddha statues and interact with the adorable and sometimes pushy deer. The deer of Nara Park roam the area surrounding the Todai-ji and the National Museum and are hoping to be fed special deer crackers (made of wheat flour and rice bran), for which they are supposed to bow three times. Clement had much better luck at this than I did, and made many deer friends. We both tried to only feed well-behaved deer, and the young little deer that were at risk of having their crackers stolen. Occasionally deer would get aggressive and either nip at you or try to rush you in an attempt to get you to drop ... read more

Amidst snow flurries we rode to the station. As we travelled the countryside had delicate white lace edges from further flurries. Undeterred we continued to find maps and accommodation in Nara. By 2pm we set out and it was a bright sunny afternoon at 4 degrees Celsius. We wandered the parks near Todaiji Temple filled with sight seers, festival tents with food and many many deer wanting food which, being Japan, was being sold by special deer food sellers. I found my first plum blossom mid way up the hill. The sun filtered down on us as we enjoyed being outside, breathing fresh air and seeing 'much beautiful nature'. Many people were out and about finding their spot for the festival. I was delighted when we got to the top of Wakakusa Hill to hear taiko ... read more

We got up early this morning and managed to get down early to have a nice breakfast again. It meant we could get to the station and get on our way to NARA Which was our destination for the day. We found the ticket station easily and found the right platform but still managed to catch the wrong train. Luckily it was a local train that stopped at a station that connected with the right train. A quick dash and we basically caught the same train that we should have so all good. Arrived at Nara and bought a local loop pass for the bus so we could get around easily. Arrived at the first stop and there were deer wandering around everywhere. It was quite amazing to see them all and how comfortable they were ... read more