Nara/Kyoto, Japan

Wednesday evening in Kyoto, Japan

Since my last post I have rode a bullet train visited Shinto Shrines, Buddhist Temples, worn a Kimono (Technically two), played with deer …., oh and met a movie star.

Mr.Steph on the bullet train to Nara, Japan

At the train stations I saw lots of Ugs.

I can't believe two cultures like these ugly shoes!

Lot’s of stuff. We left Nagoya to head to Nara, Japan. The best way to describe Nara is a Japanese version of Savannah, Georgia. The place has narrow roads that wind and turn around camped corners all in the shadow of tons of history.

We took a walking tour of the city; it was nice to get out of a bus for change. We first visited Todai-ji Temple which is Nara’s main attraction. The Daibutsu-den Hall is one of the largest and oldest wooden structures in the world. It contains a huge bronze statue of Buddha. When we entered the hall we passed through a massive gate with two enormous statues called Nio guardians. The Nio are known as Ungyo, which by tradition has a closed mouth, and Agyo, which has an open mouth which represent the first and last sounds of the Sanskrit language, which is a 25 century old dead langauge from ancient India. (Buddhism came from India).

Before you enter a holy place you must cleanse yourself

A really big Buddha

Cool Monk shoes!

One of the odd things about the temple grounds is the fact that Sika deer, which according to the Shinto religion are messengers of the gods, are allowed to roam freely. You can feed them but they can get aggressive. They took a bite out of the paper bag of the one of our group leaders from Columbia Universities while she was still carrying it.

We then made our way to Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do which are two beautiful buildings on the shrine complex. They give you an excellent view of the Nara area from high above. From their we strolled through Kasuga Taisha, which has hundreds of very old stone lanterns that represent gifts to the shrine. They are everywhere and line the walkways which makes the place quite serene there.

After a day of touring we retired to our Ryokan, or traditional Japanese Inn. We all put on Kimonos for a traditional Japanese meal. I looked quite foolish but had a great time. Needless to say the place does not get many gaijin, foreigners, my size so I had to where two:( We all had a wonderful time and the food was awesome. I like all foods further explaining my need for two Kimonos!

Mr. Steph's room

The traditional Japanese meal

In the morning we ate some breakfast visited one last museum and took the train to Kyoto. Kyoto, Japan has 1.47 million people and holds much of the traditional culture for Japan. It was its capital before Tokyo, and it was where the Japanese royal family lived until the 1800’s. We arrived in the early afternoon into the main train station.

While we were waiting on our shuttle to the train station one of the other teachers spotted Julianne Moore, who has been nominated for four Oscars. I was not sure if I should have my picture taken with her but I thought to myself, “How often does a Hollywood type get to meet a famous guy like myself.” Ha Ha. I asked to have my picture taken with her, she is quite personable, and she agreed.

We about to grab some dinner then get some much needed rest.

More photos #1

More photos #2
Mr. Steph out!