nara was, years ago (8th century), the capital of japan and today houses numerous UNESCO-protected landmarks and sights. of note for me is Taijo-ji, a zen temple complex with the largest wooden building in the world, which was constructed around the largest Buddha statue in japan (for those of you paying attention, i had seeing the second largest in kamakura). when i got to the train station, i went to the visitor information center to get a map and the woman at the desk said i looked like a student, and for students they offer free walking tours led by japanese university student guides. i wasn't going to argue with a free walking tour, so i got paired with a japanese girl named Yuki Kobayashi, age 22, majoring in british literature(!), living in nara, planning to go to work for a travel company upon graduation. given her major, her english was fantastic. the tour guide thing is something she volunteers for once a week during the summer. i had a really good time with her - it is a very nice thing to be able to converse freely and easily with japanese and not have to use slowed-down, broken english for comprehension.
on another obscenely hot japanese summer day, we headed out, armed with fans, towels and water, for nara-koen, a sprawling park that contains most of nara's sights. the park is also filled with free-roaming deer. so cute - little baby deer! i saw more than a few children try to feed one deer with these biscuits that are sold on the corners, and then get swarmed by all the other deer who want in. it must be scary for the child to be surrounded by these strange animals on all sides, but it was side-splittingly funny for me. yuki told me that once she had spent a few hours drawing in the park, and a deer came and ate it. sad, but funny.
wrapping the sights into a close-knit narrative, we saw the second largest 5-story pagoda in japan (the first, toji-ji is in kyoto, and beats nara's by only a few centimeters). we saw taijo-ji (the building had to be constructed around the buddha, it's so immense. honestly, that temple was worth the visit in and of itself. the building is near miraculous and the statues inside and stunning works of art. i constantly marvel at the combined delicacy and fortitude of japanese architecture). we saw another few temples at the top of a hill that overlooked all of nara and the mountains beyond (one had a thousand-year-old tree (!!) that because it had been there when the temple was constructed, the temple was built around the tree in order to preserve it. amazing). we saw some shrines (karagawa-jinja, e.g.) where i learned some more about shinto (shinto worships nature and at the altars at many shrines there are no statues, but rather mirrors so that the supplicant sees herself, the torii and nature upon approaching the altar. brilliantly beautiful philosophy. did i mention how much a love the fact that the mono-theistic god of the western fold is almost completely absent here - portuguese first brought catholic and jesuit missionaries in the 16th century, and various shoguns either permitted them to proselytize or alternately, to be banished. the meiji emperor expelled many of the christian priests and, i believe, near decreed that japan make a return to shinto and buddhism. there is still christianity in japan, but it's scarce. it's just nice to see a society that isn't bound by the propaganda that binds mine).
as yuki and i were walking, i came across a pair of prescription glasses on the street, near a train station. they were rather strong - i tried them on and could barely walk straight. i decided to try and find a lost and found. we first went to the station's information booth, but the lady there directed us to the police station nearby. this, after thanking me profusely for my kindness. at the police station, the attendant did not speak english, so yuki translated for me and we left the glasses there with instructions as to where we found them. that woman as well was just bowled over that someone would go through all this trouble to turn in a pair of lost glasses. first, it wasn't very much trouble - maybe 15 minutes of my time. second, they were heavy prescription (probably reading glasses) and someone is really going to miss them. third, this is to make up for all the other social protocols i have broken while in japan; leave some of them with a lasting impression of a kind american.
finally, after many an hour of walking and talking, yuki and i parted ways and she headed back home and i got some food and had a brief stint clothes shopping (work! got a way cute shirt/tie/vest combo). i did a little more shopping in the area, but it had begun to rain so i decided it was a good time to move along with the train traveling. i had an hour trip back to osaka station, and then from there, i needed to transfer to the shinkansen bound for tokyo, which would take an hour. at osaka station, there were storms, and many trains were delayed. ok, seriously, japanese subways and trains are generally efficient, but when they aren't, this gaijin can get a bit stressed - the platforms keep crowding with more and more people (all of whom appear incredibly patient and calm, the precise opposite of a scene in union square when a train at rush hour is delayed), announcements for the delayed train are all in japanese, when the train does arrive, people are getting shoved into the cars (literally!). it's a mad scene, man. i won't miss that. but, count it up for another crazy experience i have had in japan.
hours later, tired and feeling more than a bit dirty (sweat and rain... mmm) i got to tokyo. it was nearly 9pm, so i decided simply to put my bag in a locker and go out to the gayborhood and sleep at the internet cafe or sauna. i made it back to shinjuku-ni-chome and went to Dragon, the first gay bar i went to in japan. wait, backtrack two minutes for dinner - i went to what is called a shabu-shabu (?) which is a small restaurant with a bar, where at each seat is a hot plate, and you order raw meat and veggies that are put in a wok, and you stir fry it in front of you and eat it up with a plate of miso soup, rice, egg and kim chee. did i mention i love japanese food? my friendly bartender Nahik was not at dragon, but i chatted with another who i remembered (though his name still eludes me). i hung out there for a few drinks and then an aussie named Martin who has been in japan for about seven years came and chatted me up. we talked about my travels, about japanese culture, about australia and about living in japan. but after awhile, martin started bitching about things he doesn't like in japan and kinda just being a debbie downer. not wanting to have my happy cloud rained on, i said my goodbyes and moved on to advocates. things were a little more happening there, and i met another australian (tim?) who was quite nice and a few locals who were fun casual conversation. finally the exhaustion of my traveling caught up with me and i excused myself to the sauna to sleep.
one more day to go...
finally, after many an hour of walking and talking, yuki and i parted ways and she headed back home and i got some food and had a brief stint clothes shopping (work! got a way cute shirt/tie/vest combo). i did a little more shopping in the area, but it had begun to rain so i decided it was a good time to move along with the train traveling. i had an hour trip back to osaka station, and then from there, i needed to transfer to the shinkansen bound for tokyo, which would take an hour. at osaka station, there were storms, and many trains were delayed. ok, seriously, japanese subways and trains are generally efficient, but when they aren't, this gaijin can get a bit stressed - the platforms keep crowding with more and more people (all of whom appear incredibly patient and calm, the precise opposite of a scene in union square when a train at rush hour is delayed), announcements for the delayed train are all in japanese, when the train does arrive, people are getting shoved into the cars (literally!). it's a mad scene, man. i won't miss that. but, count it up for another crazy experience i have had in japan.
hours later, tired and feeling more than a bit dirty (sweat and rain... mmm) i got to tokyo. it was nearly 9pm, so i decided simply to put my bag in a locker and go out to the gayborhood and sleep at the internet cafe or sauna. i made it back to shinjuku-ni-chome and went to Dragon, the first gay bar i went to in japan. wait, backtrack two minutes for dinner - i went to what is called a shabu-shabu (?) which is a small restaurant with a bar, where at each seat is a hot plate, and you order raw meat and veggies that are put in a wok, and you stir fry it in front of you and eat it up with a plate of miso soup, rice, egg and kim chee. did i mention i love japanese food? my friendly bartender Nahik was not at dragon, but i chatted with another who i remembered (though his name still eludes me). i hung out there for a few drinks and then an aussie named Martin who has been in japan for about seven years came and chatted me up. we talked about my travels, about japanese culture, about australia and about living in japan. but after awhile, martin started bitching about things he doesn't like in japan and kinda just being a debbie downer. not wanting to have my happy cloud rained on, i said my goodbyes and moved on to advocates. things were a little more happening there, and i met another australian (tim?) who was quite nice and a few locals who were fun casual conversation. finally the exhaustion of my traveling caught up with me and i excused myself to the sauna to sleep.
one more day to go...
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