Giant Wooden Buildings Oh My!

This was a day of lots of firsts. It was our first time taking the Shinkansen (bullet train). First time outside of Tokyo. First time visiting a world heritage site. A good day in general.

We started out by boarding the Shinkansen in a risky move by taking an unreserved car. Fortunately we arrived at a very unpopulated part of the track and had no problems what-so-ever securing a seat.

At first it seems like just another train, but when they finally pick up speed you really start to realize how fast you are going. Buildings - blink of an eye. Whole farms - maybe two blinks. The best part though is when one Shinkansen passes another. The intense winds from the two trains passing causes the cars to buckle sideways. The feeling never gets old.

With a transfer at Kyoto to a slower city train we found our way in Nara, home to the Daibutsu, a 67 foot tall statue of Buddha.

For some of the people this was a sacred trip, filled with many hand clapping, hand washing, mouth rinsing, incense burning, and coin throwing. For most though it was a day in the park with a chance to see a World Heritage site and the worlds largest wooden building. Being Christian we were in the latter, and seeing how there was a gift shop selling "I Love Japan" shirts I'm not sure how anybody could be in the prior.

The statue and it's housing, although amazingly cool, wasn't the highlight of the park - no, that my friends belong to the deer. You see, all throughout the park there are "wild" deer that roam around, waiting for you to feed them food cakes sold by the natives. The Shinto people believe that the deer are messengers from their gods, but I believe they are just plain cute.

With lots of temples, lots of statues, and even more deer, we decided to head on home. Unfortunately we jumped on a local route instead of an express, which lead to longer ride. Then coming home we took a Kodoma Shinkansen instead of a Hikari Shinkansen, which stops more frequently and ends up taking much longer. Oh well, all turned out right and we made it home.

To see the pictures from the day click here