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A giant Buddha (Daibatsu) at Kamakura, Japan, circa 1860s, photo by Felice Beato, courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Day 12: Kyoto to Nara to Osaka

Transfer day today, and instead of traveling straight from Kyoto to Osaka* we decided to throw in a day trip to Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan. The train was fairly straightforward, and we were soon in the old city. We were actually in Nara today earlier than we managed to leave the apartment in Kyoto yesterday. That's pretty good for us. We followed the half-day Nara Park walking tour from the Lonely Planet guide which saw us walking a good 14km around some rather old and nice looking temples and shrines stopping every now and then to have our picture taken with Japanese school children; "Can I taking picture with us?" I'm not really sure why we were special. Surely they've seen a pale English couple before? Either way, it was a great excuse to throw my fingers up in a peace sign, the true Japanese way of having your photo taken. ✌🏼️📸 The vast majority of the temples were not the originals, as many of them had burned to the ground on more than one occasion. This is somewhat of an occurring theme around Japan: Build temple/ shrine out of wood -> wood burns -> said temple/ shrine gone -> build again out of wood. So the cycle continues. Either that or they've been reduced to splinters by earthquakes. Fire and earthquakes = every wooden building's mortal enemy, or so it seems. That and woodworm I guess... The most impressive of all we saw today were Tōdai-ji and Isui-en. The former an enormous Buddhist temple, the latter another beautiful zen garden. They do zen gardens and temples very well here in Japan. Tōdai-ji housed an absolutely enormous Buddha called the Daibutsu, standing majestically at 15m** and weighing a staggering 500 tonnes. One of its nostrils alone is half a metre wide. That's big enough to fit a chubby Japanese man through. An odd comparison perhaps, but true nonetheless. We know this as we watched one barely succeed to fit through a hole in a pillar, designed to replicate the nostril. Apparently, if you fit through this, you are 'assured of enlightenment'. Isy and I did not attempt to fit as the queue was a little bit long (even for a Brit) so we shall both remain un-enlightened for now. Another highlight of Nara Park was the deer. Hundreds of them. All very tame and some very naughty, nibbling and head butting tourists to feed them some sort of food disc which you could buy for 150¥. They provided great entertainment for us as we stopped frequently to shade from heat. Screaming tourists running away from deer really should be a televised event. The tour concluded with a walk back to Nara JR station down a long market street where we found ourselves watching two men pounding away merrily with mallets at a gloop of green doughy type material. It was apparently edible and people seemed to be queueing up for it, so we gave it a go (Isy had a mousey nibble). It was ok. It had a very strange consistency and a middle with what I think was Ume, which I think is concentrated plum. I don't think it was repeatable. We still aren't sure what it was... P.S the Internet is so terrible where we are that I can't upload photos. I'm not even sure this will go up *that would be far too straightforward and sensible for us ** 14.98m to be precise

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Daibutsu, the Great Buddha at Hyogo, Japan: "The Great Buddha (Vairocana Buddha) of Nofukuji Temple, unveiled on March 15, 1891, was a bronze statue measuring 11.5 m in height and weighing 11 tons. In May 1945, the statue was removed and donated in response to a wartime metal collection order. The pedestal remained empty until May 1991 when, almost half a century later, a Great Buddha, larger than the original, was built here." (Harvard Library)

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