himeji and nara

We went to 姫路城 Himeji Castle, which is one of the only castles in Japan that is the original. It has been restored of course, but the inside looks like a castle (as opposed to Osaka Castle, which is marble and wood and glass with a gift shop and giant elevator in the middle). The walls are covered in white and have small triangular and square arrow-holes in them. The view from the top is also very impressive. You can see the city and the sea coast as well.

The inside, being the original, of course meant that James had a tough time dealing with the short doorways and stairwells :P This went on for all 5 stories.

After leaving Himeji, we went over to 奈良 Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan. At first it looked like any other Japanese city - lots of grey, concrete and pachinko parlours - but as soon as we got to the park, it was amazing how much the city changed. There are sacred deer everywhere　(in the pre－Buddhism era they were thought to be messengers of the gods), looking for handouts from tourists (and chasing small children with ice creams). They are quite bold, really, probably used to seeing people and being petted and given treats. You can even buy 鹿せんべい deer biscuits from vendors to feed them. One of them tried to eat James' fan.

We saw the largest wooden builing in the world, 東寺 Tohji, which houses the 大仏 Big Buddha of Nara. It really is huge, flanked by two other smaller (but still very large) statues, one on each side.

There is also a pillar with a hole at the bottom, supposedly the size of one of the Buddha's nostrils, and if you can fit through you will be saved. A few kids got through with no problems, and one skinny Japanese guy did, too.

We walked up to the top of Wakakusa-yama, where they have a gorgeous temple that overlooks Nara and we got a fine view of the city.

We then went up to a Shinto Shrine that had beautiful stone lanterns lining the paths up to it and hundreds inside the shrine as well. We then made our way back down to the station and went back to Osaka. We met my buddy Masahiro (of drum-sending fame), Hiromi and Yukari, and we went for rotating sushi. And then, crazy karaoke.