Shka-shka-shka (Yuuki, on deer)

So two weeks into Japan and I hadn’t really gone anywhere, and I was in a bit of a panic when I realized that, after the coming 5-day weekend, I had only 2 more left in Osaka, after which Kansai would be expensively out of reach from Tokyo. So I was resolved to go somewhere (although I realized a couple days later that I was in error, and I had an extra weekend in there heh). Unfortunately, I was not the only one with this plan; there are normally only 2 weeks of holiday a year for the Japanese businessman, once in June and once after the first of the year, so this anomoly where three national holidays fall on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the same week generates serious domestic tourism. I wanted to visit the seaside town of Kanazawa, but found that there wasn’t a manger to sleep in; I called 24 hotels, and every single one was booked full. It was a similar story at Koya-san, a mountain retreat where over 50 Shingo Buddhist temples host travelers overnight including breakfast, dinner, and prayer (for a hefty fee), and Takayama, a mountain town that supposedly has a wealth of sights and peaceful locales to see and enjoy. I was able to book a place in Shirahama though, a beach and onsen resort town in Wakayama. I thought to go there for a bit of a change; nice beaches and onsen, a relaxing place. Ultimately though, I decided I’d rather do day trips in the Kansai area, of which there are many, than go hang out at the beach alone. The guy operating the ryokan even told me on the phone they were full until he found out I was going along, they had plenty of singles left.

The first of these trips was to Nara. My coworkers, in an effort to be almost unbearably gracious, constantly offer to take me places. I appreciate it deeply, but it’s a bit much, and I still haven’t gotten the hang of how to turn people down for stuff. I can’t just say no I’d rather travel alone, I gotta make up excuses and such; the problem is I don’t have excuses prepared beforehand, and the way the conversation works, or least how it works when talking to a foreigner with broken Japanese, is that if my immediate response is not some reason I can’t do it, then I indeed plan on doing it. So far things have worked out ish with me managing to turn down many very kind and considerate offers for entertainment without, hopefully, hurting too many feelings. Nevertheless I looked forward to making a little trip to Nara with coworkers, feel the place out a little and get a sense for it before I return after my duties at DA are done.

So on another hot Kansai morning I took the subway down to Nanba station where the Nara line reaches Osaka and met up with three of my coworkers, including my buddy T***-san and his child, Yuuki. The day that followed I’d describe as pretty *blank*. It was pretty fun, pretty hot, and overall pretty mild in terms of event, excitement, or adventure.

The express train to Nara’s only a few bucks and takes about half an hour from Nanba Osaka. You arrive in the midst of Naramachi (Nara being Nara and machi meaning town), which is essentially just the shopping focal point of the city, beefed up beyond the usual for a town that size by the tremendous influx of visitors. Indeed there was no shortage of tourists, especially Japanese, likely given the fame of the location, proximity to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya, and the long weekend. Nara koen (park), where the hundreds of temples are located, is quite vaste though and there are ample tea houses and restaurants skirting it so despite the crush of visitors that you pass by, it doesn’t really effect the experience of visiting the big, popular temples like Todai-ji or getting a bit to eat. Getting out from the station we walked up uphill along the park, past the various Nara museums, I imagine containing mostly artifacts drawn from the temples and exhibits explaining the history of Japan’s (first?) capitol. We picked up some Bento boxes for lunch on the way that one of my companions had called ahead and had prepared. The day was hot, something you think I’d get used to or least pay attention enough to that I would, two weeks later, have gotten every inch of exposed skin burned to high heaven. I joke that I”m a New England lobster. But in either case it was hot, and of course the Japanese don’t wear (and therefore don’t frequently sell) sunglasses, so my retina’s remain thoroughly bleached. So we worked our way up in the shade by the park, walking past the other visitors (which were numerous, but as I mentioned nicely dispersed) and the Shika, or deer in Japanese, or Shkashkashkashka as Yuuki-chan loves repeating ad nauseum in his excitement after, full of trepidation, “sneaking” up to the lazy, braindead beasts and poking them in the butt to make them jump up and whirl about. There were tons of deer, all over the place. They’re not quite the deer I’ve seen in various parts of the states, quite different actually, but they’re no less stupid and do little more than walk around chasing tourists that hold out food for them (which is quite fun actually) and then processing said food all day. If you can’t tell I don’t have much love for deer, they just eat constantly and proliferate, it’s like the lowest common denominator of the mammal kingdom.

T***-san coming back with some drinks from across the way

Yuuki playing with Shika

Anyway, we worked our way up by the park towards Todai-ji, our primary site for the day, and probably the most famous of Nara’s landmarks. It contains a famed massive Buddha with two Bodhisattva’s flanking it. Before then we stopped in the park to eat lunch, which was made more exciting by a couple deer making their way over and accosting us. I found the best trick is to just back into the deer to push them away, allowing you to easily protect whatever you’re eating in your hands, and to continue the process. It was quite pleasant though, despite all the people. Again the place is massive. Himeji (a post to come), with but one real attraction is quite a different experience on touristy days.

A note on Yuuki-chan, the kid is very bold and excited, and fairly clever. I’ve interacted with him a couple times since, and he’s really endeared himself to me. He’s five, and in meeting people is generally quite shy at first, but opens up fully very quickly. He also cries about random things, which his father makes fun of him for endlessly. Still, he’s a pretty fun kid, with a tremendous amount of energy.

A gate to Todai-ji

So we completed our walk over to Todai-ji and took in the main site for the day, Daibutsu-den. It is a massive, gorgeous, entirely wooden structure (the largest wooden structure in the world actually). I don’t really have much to say about it other than what you’d read in a travel guide. It’s impressive in its scale (which is apparently only 2/3 of the original, rebuilt after, surprise, burning down in the 1700s, although I believe the buddha is original from the 8th century), but as a major attraction doesn’t really inspire anything than some awe on the concept of this massive structure and grounds set against the beautiful mountain backdrop (and in Japan, there is always a mountain backdrop, I can’t get away from it). To make the visit appropriately complete I had to of course indulge in some good old Japanese superstition. There’s a hole in the base of one of the pilons that is supposedly the same size as the Daibutsu’s nostril, so everyone tries to climb through the thing for good luck. It’s a fun little trick, and when adults do it, with great difficult, it solicits clapping and cheers (although short, T***-san is pretty buff and therefore wide, an unusual thing in Japan, so a real round of applause followed his unbelievable journey through the nostril).

Just like lighting candles in churches

Well, buddha

The hole

A final note on Daibutsu-den, the Japanese government has done an extremely simple and clever thing I’d love to see reproduced in the states and other countries. At major attractions around the country, including Daibutsu-den, they have big metal stamps with a well-designed mold that depicts some representative image of the site. This is coupled with an ad campaign to get kids around the country to put these site stamps (not like postal stamps, the kind you pound into ink and then mark paper with) in books and collect them. The effort, I imagine, is to get kids to take an interest in exploring the nation and its cultural heritage. They spin it in the advertisements like a mystery adventure to discover the sites and collect the stamps, quite clever as I remember how big sticker collecting was as a kid, despite how stupid that is. Kids like to collect things, especially things that fall neatly into a given medium, like stickers, and they can feel are personal treasures. The stamps colorfully and dramatically reflect being to these sites, which are famous, ancient, and awe-inspiring, so I think it does a good job of getting kids excited about trips to see things. Even if the kids don’t learn much traditional history at the sites, I think experiencing the holdovers from historical times at a young age will give children a sense of the past, of previous existences, and hopefully an interest in what the past has produced.

After that visit, we worked our way back to naramachi to promenade a little through both the quiet and busy streets, taking in the little niceties the city of nara has constructed and the bustling retail industry before heading home. It was a fine day, and taught me something important about Nara: it’s massive. Seeing a significant chunk of Nara’s sites is nothing to scoff at, and one should go there with the right mentality and reasonable expectation in order to best enjoy their experience.

Naramachi

In the following days I took a couple more day trips, first to Kyoto and then Himeji. Associated posts will follow.