Nara

For the entire week that the Walkers were in Japan, the forecast had called for rain, but luckily the rain held off for most of the excursions. Sunday’s forecast was the best for the week and with the long walk through the park in Nara we held off until Sunday. The weather held and Sunday was a beautiful day.

Out of the train station we walked through a small shopping street. It seems to me that Nara has some of the cheaper prices for souvenirs. Half way through the shopping street we began our climb up the hill to the park and to the giant Buddha. At the top of the first hill we came to the park with Nara’s five storied Pagoda where we sat down and had our picnic lunch.

This area is where many of the deer that live in Nara begin to mingle with people. I didn’t mention this to Anita in the hopes that a deer might join us for lunch. I know how Anita is with wildlife and I was looking forward to the reaction. Its too bad that the deer were on Anita’s side and didn’t surprise her. In fact the deer were so tame that they weren’t intimidating at all.

It seems to me that this area of Japan doesn’t have good green spaces, but perhaps it is just in my immediate neighborhood. Nara has beautiful green spaces, just like the area around the traditional Japanese village. I think I look for acres of grass, which aren’t in Nishinomiya. The walk through the park was very enjoyable and gave the Walkers and us a good chance to see kids feed the deer by hand.

The mall to the giant Buddha was packed with people. Nara is a popular destination for tourists. While Chrissy took the Walkers into the temple, I sat on a bench next to the pond and watched kids feed the koi as deer strolled through the crowds and tried to steal food. Inside the temple, they were able to see the giant Buddha and people crawling through the “hole of happiness,” a hole carved into one of the pillars of a primary timber which legend says that brings happiness to anyone who is able to crawl through. When Jessica was here a line of fifty elementary aged kids was queued to make the journey to happiness. The Walkers were treated to the sight of an adult trying to fit through the hole.

The train ride home was quiet. I think we were all a little tired, but the train ride from Nara gives a nice perspective on the size of Osaka. From Nara, a small and sleepy town by Japanese standards, the train goes through a tunnel and emerges on the hill above Osaka. The city stretches off into the distance North where it merges with Kyoto, south until it runs into the ocean, and west were it blends with Amagasaki, Nishinomiya, Kobe and beyond. It is one big city. From the tunnel above Osaka to our home is just under an hour by train with two transfers. The entire way is lined with apartments, shopping streets, malls, high rises and industries. As we headed home some of the lights began to come on and lit our way home with neon.