Archives for January 2016

And a big Buddha.

When we weren’t being delighted by deer, we spent out time in Nara visiting the many temples. The main area in Nara is small enough to walk from site to site, if you have a cool drink with you. Bicycles would be a nice choice, as well.

The must-see temple in the area is Todai-ji. The temple houses the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha, known as Daibutsu. The giant Buddha, the lush green grounds, and the wandering deer really make for a peaceful scene.

I loved our guesthouse in Nara. We stayed at Nara Backpackers in a traditional style private room. The guesthouse itself is 100 years old, gorgeous, and tranquil. I liked the guesthouse so much that I recommended it to my mother when she visited Nara a few months later.

From Nara we headed to Kobe.

Doe, a deer, a female deer.

Well… it seems like I should finish blogging our summer trip to Japan, considering we’ve also now taken a winter trip to Japan. Let’s just get back to where I left off…

After our time in Kyoto, we headed over to Nara. For a very short period of time, Nara was the capital of Japan. Today, it’s a peaceful escape from the larger cities of Osaka or Kyoto. In addition to the beautiful temples, Nara’s draw comes from the large deer population.

Tradition says that the deer are heavenly creatures who protect the city and all of Japan. Vendors sell special biscuits so visitors can give the deer a little snack. However, some of the deer are quite aggressive so if you buy some biscuits, be ready to dole it out on demand. The deer know to bow before accepting a biscuit and Mike enjoyed testing out their manners.

We spent our time in Nara deer watching and visiting temples. More on the temples next.