nara
A short hop from Kyoto. Nara was Japan's first permanent capital. Previously, Shinto belief held that when an emperor died, the capital should be moved due to the taint of death. Nara's status as capital didn't last long though, only 75 years. But in that time they managed to create some fantastic pieces of art and architecture. It has 8 world heritage sites.
So I found myself in another Ryokan for my time here. A bit less impressive than the previous ones but it had a balconey which peered over a traditional Japanese garden. I went off exploring and it was easy as it's a relatively small town. All the significant things can be seen in a day. The shrines, etc are pretty much the same in style and character as Kyoto. One shrine, the Daibutsu-den Hall, is the largest wooden structure in the world. Just massive. It was completely rebuilt after a fire and now only represents two-thirds of its original size. Deers roam freely and in numbers, amoung the thousand odd stone lanterns. It was funny to see tourists getting freaked out by them. One particularly stupid one bought biscuits from a stall and happily munched away on them. The Japanese who noticed it were wetting themselves; the biscuits are for feeding the deers! They're imprinted with pictures of deers for heaven sake! Maybe the buffoon was motivated by their cheap cost.
With the sight seeing quickly done, it gave me loads of time to wolf down inordinate amounts of kobe beef. Can't get enough of the stuff. I'd love to visit one of the farms where the raise the cattle. I wonder whether the cows are p*ssed out of their head all day long. Then massages. What a life.
I didn't find any Irish bars in Nara but wandered into a kind of pub solely as they had a Guinness menu board outside. It was a kind of student boozer. I ended up playing chess with some bloke called 'Obi". I could feel the force was strong in him as he beat the sh*t out of me at each game. Later I was talking to the barman who was a young guy dressed in the style of an east coast rapper. To keep the conversation going I asked him whether he liked hip-hop and he said he hated it. His favourite artist is Norah Jones. What!
Nara is a low key place but quite pleasant.
So I found myself in another Ryokan for my time here. A bit less impressive than the previous ones but it had a balconey which peered over a traditional Japanese garden. I went off exploring and it was easy as it's a relatively small town. All the significant things can be seen in a day. The shrines, etc are pretty much the same in style and character as Kyoto. One shrine, the Daibutsu-den Hall, is the largest wooden structure in the world. Just massive. It was completely rebuilt after a fire and now only represents two-thirds of its original size. Deers roam freely and in numbers, amoung the thousand odd stone lanterns. It was funny to see tourists getting freaked out by them. One particularly stupid one bought biscuits from a stall and happily munched away on them. The Japanese who noticed it were wetting themselves; the biscuits are for feeding the deers! They're imprinted with pictures of deers for heaven sake! Maybe the buffoon was motivated by their cheap cost.
With the sight seeing quickly done, it gave me loads of time to wolf down inordinate amounts of kobe beef. Can't get enough of the stuff. I'd love to visit one of the farms where the raise the cattle. I wonder whether the cows are p*ssed out of their head all day long. Then massages. What a life.
I didn't find any Irish bars in Nara but wandered into a kind of pub solely as they had a Guinness menu board outside. It was a kind of student boozer. I ended up playing chess with some bloke called 'Obi". I could feel the force was strong in him as he beat the sh*t out of me at each game. Later I was talking to the barman who was a young guy dressed in the style of an east coast rapper. To keep the conversation going I asked him whether he liked hip-hop and he said he hated it. His favourite artist is Norah Jones. What!
Nara is a low key place but quite pleasant.
posted by Ciarán at 6:03 a.m.
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