2016 Japan - Nara

3 December 2016

From Takayama we traveled back to Osaka. We would be going to Nara the next morning and it would be our last stop of the trip.

Nara park is home to hundreds of freely roaming deer. Considered in Shinto to be messengers of the gods, Nara's nearly 1200 deer have become a symbol of the city and have even been designated as a natural treasure. Nara's deer are surprisingly tame, although they can be aggressive if they think you will feed them. Deer crackers are for sale around the park, and some deer have learned to bow to visitors to ask to be fed. Some deers even grab tourist map and they avoid when you try to take the map out. Nara Park is a five minute walk from Kintetsu Nara Station or a about a 20 minute walk from JR Nara Station.

We did not enter into Todaiji Temple as the entrance is charged at 500 Yen. We walked around the entrance and took some pictures though. 

We headed to Kasuga Taisha which is famous for its bronze lanterns. Beyond the shrine's offering hall, which can be visited free of charge, there is a paid inner area which provides a closer view of the shrine's inner buildings. Furthest in is the main sanctuary, containing multiple shrine buildings that display the distinctive Kasuga style of shrine architecture, characterized by a sloping roof extending over the front of the building.

Kasuga Taisha is famous for its lanterns, which have been donated by worshipers. Hundreds of bronze lanterns can be found hanging from the buildings, while as many stone lanterns line its approaches. The lanterns are only lit twice a year during two Lantern Festivals, one in early February and one in mid August. We at first thought we had to pay to enter in order to see the lanterns but actually you can easily see them outside the buildings. 

We walked around the town and hunger started to kick in at noon. We tried to look for restaurants but what we saw were only "expensive" steamed sweet potatoes sold along the roadside. There were a few restaurants near Kintetsu station but we had walked far from the station then. We decided to complete the itinerary and only took late lunch when we went back to the station later before we took the train to Osaka. We were captivated by this restuarant selling tonkatsu. We had been saving in food for past few days as we ran out of cash. We could not wait to have a sumptous meal now. The food especially fried oysters was superb and reasonably priced with free refill of cabbage.