T&J Travels #10: Japan 2018 (Part 9)

Today's our last day for Osaka but not without going to Nara. We have already accumulated so many shopping bags plus our luggage so we really had to resort to leaving them at lockers. We left ours at Osaka station so it would be easier when we go back to Tokyo.

From the station look for the poster like so:

If you've arrived early and have planned to do full day at Nara, you can buy an unlimited pass for the buses. We didn't get one because we only had to go the famous Nara park and back. Maybe next time when we'd do a proper tour of the Seven Great Temples.

As soon as we got off at the bus stop we can already see deer. And even without effort a handful of them is already up for Reagan's petting. He just had to contain his excitement in feeding them in a bit because we will first visit the Todaiji temple.

+ Todai-ji +

 



It may not be apparent on the photos, but the Nandaimon is in old wood and the height is unbelievably high. Here's a comparative scuplture of a Nio at the gate (there's a pair on either side of the gates) with some people:

You don't need to get in to the the temple, you could see it from the next gate after the Nandaimon. But we've gotten in anyway so we could see The Great Buddha and closer to the Daibutsuden that houses it.

As we approached the Daibutsuden I just realized that the temple is much bigger than I thought it to be. It is so humongous that I could never take a full photo of the building standing right below it unless I take a portrait orientation. This is much taller than I assumed can be done in wood and in era where modern cranes does not exist yet. In fact it is even bigger than the churches the Spaniards made that I've seen so far and that's already in stone!

When we got in I felt even smaller compared to THE Great Buddha. 10/10 not disappointed in size because it is impressive. Other than the Buddha, there are other more towering sculptures that for me is a feat on the time it was made. The details are magnificent, it looks like it have jumped out of paper. For wood to look like that requires an amazing artisan and I am glad to be able to see it in real life.

I tried looking for what it's about but there's one pillar in the temple that have a square shaped hole that are crawled onto by kids. I don't know if it's part of a dare, or good luck (there are a lot of students today) but it is so much fun to watch. There was even a lady who attempted it and with such a small stature and weight she was able to fit in easily.

Price: 1000JPY

+ Feeding the Deer +

When we're done we got back to where all the deers hang out and bought the biscuits that are meant to be fed to them (150JPY a pack). I have Reagan have all the biscuits so I could video him feeding the deers. The moment they found out he has some he has already gathered a handful approaching. There was a scary deer that had clipped antlers (thank heavens) that was a bit aggressive who has head butted my camera at some point we had to move away from him. The others were nice though, they reciprocated Reagan's head bows with their own and it's so cute to watch. What's even cuter is Reagan looked like a priest in green cassock handing out ostias to his patrons.

After feeding the deer we tried some freshly made ichigo daifuku (strawberry mochi ; 300JPY). The mochi's sticky texture combined with the sweetness of fresh strawberry makes me drool as I write this. I wish I could take it home!

One food staple that I remembered watching animes is the Japanese love for yams. We saw a cart selling it and out of courtesy we didn't notice that the price is per grams. We were given a huge one and we don't know if you could request for something smaller (the seller hands out in full, haven't seen ones that were cut). I can say that there is nothing distinctive about this than the yams I know back home. Nonetheless that is one out of my food checklist.

We can't find proper restaurants that we'd like that we had to walk further from the park. We ended up in (I still believe) is a Korean owned restaurant (Reagan says it isn't). There's just a group of guys inside (Koreans I tell you) and us so the service is quick. I am a bit full with my half of the yam but was able to still fit in my hamburg. I don't know what it is but there's something in the burger that doesn't make it taste too fatty.

After the meal we looked for our bus to get back to the nearest train station, back to our lockers and back to the city we first landed: Tokyo.