Japan Trip, Part 4: Nara and Tokyo

After quite a long break, I am finally getting around to typing up the rest of our trip to Japan. Enjoy looking at our vacation photos!

Day 1: New York
Day 2: Japan Airlines first class
Day 3: Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto
Day 5: Kyoto & Osaka
Day 6: Nara
Day 7: Nara
Day 8: Nara & Tokyo Day 9: Tokyo Day 10: Tokyo

Day 11: Flight back to New York

Day 7: Nara

Of all the places we visited in Japan, Nara is the place I could see myself living in. It’s a small city, easily walkable. The only public transportation needed is a bus which runs in a loop around town. But the economy seems to be doing well enough to support a ton of restaurants. No doubt this is due to the tourist bucks. But it is not nearly as touristy as Kyoto. And for nature, you have the hugely expansive Nara Park.

Our host recommended a bakery called Little Mermaid, which I will now heartily recommend. Here we are with our typical Japanese breakfast of pastries, onigiris, candy, and coffee from 7-11. We’re watching season 3 of the Great British Bakeoff on our tablet. I believe that is Ali fretting over his bake.

Is that laundry drying on the table? I’m not saying.

We spent this day solidly exploring Nara on foot, which is doable. There are some sights on the far west side of the city you’d need a ride for, but you can cover most of downtown on foot.

We started walking through a neighborhood to get to the sites in Nara Park early in the morning. We started out at Todai-ji temple, which basically serves as an enormous gate. Seeing as how huge it was, we thought we were at the renown main structure, Daibatsu-den, home to the second largest Buddha structure in Japan, and spent some fruitless minutes looking for it. But Daibatsu is actually further down, behind another gate, and require a ticket for entry.

Daibatsu-den

THAT’s Daibatsu-den. It’s a shockingly huge wood structure. And like so many other temples in Japan, it’s been rebuilt countless times over the centuries. The Buddha inside is 15 meters tall. It’s so tall that it’s hard to get a good look at it, because it makes the room feel small by comparison.

There are lots of other massive sculptures in the Daibatsu-den from other temples in the park that had burned long ago. My favorite was the giant stone hand.

But who am I kidding? You don’t want to see temples and sculptures. You want to see more of the famous Nara deer!

We decided it was our one chance to feed a friendly deer, so we did buy a packet of rice wafers. Although, honestly, these deer will eat anything. One snuck up and ate our map.

Hungry fellow!


Wandering around Nara Park is a very pleasant day with lots of small temples, bridges and landscaping throughout.  The annual deer antler cutting ceremony was going on while we were there. Their antlers are cut to protect themselves and visitors. It cost 1,000 yen and it almost over, so we opted not to see it. But you can watch the odd spectacle here.

We also saw a wedding either getting out or just beginning. The bride wore this great big white cone-shaped veil. They were walking from one temple to the Kasuga-taisha, one of the main temples.

One of the other things Nara Park is famous for is the hundreds of stone lanterns lining the walkways near the Kasuga-taisha.

They call this area the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, which feels right, because with the stone lanterns and moss, everything feels ancient.

After having our fill of the park, we walked through more of Nara. All charmingly narrow streets with shops full of expensive kimonos. From visiting a very tiny Nara history museum in the neighborhood, I knew that historically every house kept a bucket full of water outside the front door, so if there was a fire, everyone in the neighborhood could rush over with their bucket. Walking around, I saw that house had a metal bucket outside the front door, which made me wonder, have they never gotten a real fire department?

All throughout Japan you see these fun signs in English. I guess I love wordplay, because I took a lot of pictures I could bore you with. Here’s some of my favorites from around Nara. Hair Make Ant is a hair salon.

Day 8: Nara & Tokyo

Took the train from Nara to Kyoto to Tokyo. At the Nara train station, an old Japanese man started talking to me. Of course, I couldn’t understand him and he didn’t understand me, but I picked up on some local attractions’ names, so I told him, “Yes, I went to Todai-ji” and all of that. Reminded of when a German cashier at a pharmacy asked me something, and I knew that at that part of the transaction a cashier is usually asking if you have a loyalty card with the store, so I said “Nein.” Incredible what you can pick up just based on context knowing none of the language.

Once we arrived in Tokyo, it was once again a tough job getting our bearings. Without GPS and no English street signs, I was relying on my iPod’s compass app, which works using shadows. It was cloudy so that didn’t work either. We did eventually find our hotel, the luxurious Conrad Tokyo.

Bathroom looking like 2001

Man was this place nice! Just look at that view over Tokyo Bay. At night, all of the buildings across the bay would be lit up, and at least one of them puts on a show, where the lights create words and animated pictures. Every single one of these hotels had chaises along the window so you could basically create your own Lost In Translation moment.

One bone to pick with the Tokyo Conrad: It’s surrounded by streets you can’t cross on the street-level. There are a series of convoluted walkways that go over the streets. If that wasn’t confusing enough, there was construction on the streets, creating detours for pedestrians. That made getting into and out of the hotel a bewildering, maze-like experience.

We explored the Tsukiji area that night, home to the fish market. We planned on getting up early on our final day for the famous tuna auction (more on that next time…) And when in Tsukiji…

Eat fish!

There was restaurant after restaurant open in Tsukiji, and many of them are open all night. So whatever the time of day, you can get the freshest sushi you’ve ever had. Sushi is probably Marge’s and my favorite food, and the fish in Tsukiji was the best we’ve ever had. What was the price? Ah, you’ll have to wait for that! How much do you think?

We stopped in a branch Sushizanmai that had a shorter line. If I’m being honest, I couldn’t understand why some restaurants had long lines, and some had no lines. The quality of the food is so high in Japan, and we all know that their sushi chefs undergo years of training, so no matter what sushi you eat in Tsukiji, I’m sure it will be the best you’ve ever had. I think some people just see a line and get in it, figuring it indicates a good restaurant. But really, there’s no need!

I seriously miss this fish. Japan has ruined sushi for us forever.

We have two more days in Tokyo, and they are filled with a variety of extremely Japanese experiences. So stay tuned!

Tell me your favorite food from traveling!

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