backblog 4: culture day 文化の日

last tuesday was culture day (a public holiday) which meant no uni (hoorahh). a group of us decided that we needed to appreciate japan not just for cheap booze and greasy delights but for its rich culture and history.
thankfully living in the kansai region provided us with many near-by destination choices. eventually we decided on Nara 奈良 (capital of Japan from 710 to 784) to get our culture on.
we had been enjoying balmy un-Autumn like weather ever since we arrived in Kobe so we were shocked to find that the city dropped what felt like 10 degrees within two hours the night before. consequently, our culture day was a little colder than what we were accustomed to and a mini-all nighter (which was just supposed to be quiet drinks at the pub) the night before put a little strain on our spirits initially but things most definitely improved through out the day.
we caught the misleading "rapid express" train to Nara expecting to arrive in about 45 minutes (probably out of sheet ignorance). An hour and a half later, we arrived in the old capital.

weeeee! in nara at last!

marc, lilly, thomas, yume (me) and mari in front of Go-ju-no-to pagoda in ko-fukuji

So we did what we came here to do -- enjoy the sights of old Japan and freeze a little bit in the process.

after a long (and much deserved) lunch break, the culture gang arrived at Todai-ji where deers roam its grounds freely. sika deers are regarded as messengers of gods in the shinto religion and are treated with respect. you can purchase biscuits to feed the deers as well but good luck trying to get them to eat it. the deers are perpetually full due to the handfuls of tourists that visit the parks with the deer biscuits in hand. i tried to feed the deers but after facing rejection after rejection from the spoilt ones, i ended up feeding some fish in the pond instead.

this deer didn't mind being photographed with.

this is a rare type of shika deer found only on culture days

nara is also famous for having the biggest buddha in japan so after strolling through the deer-filled park, we arrived at the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall) to gaze in awe at its sheer size.

The photographs really do it no justice. This buddha was HUGE.

marc, our lovely tour guide for the day, told us that there was a hole in a wooden pillar the same size as the buddha's nostril you can squeeze through within the Daibutsuten which, upon successfully coming out the other end, give you good luck. since the only people i could see attempting the squeeze were little kids, i was a little reluctant to try at first (to avoid publicly embarrasing myself should i get stuck inside this "nostril") but after witnessing both marc and thomas (who are both taller than me) successfully squeezing through said hole, i decided to give it ago.
boy i wish i wore pants that day. old ladies going "oooh we can see up her skirt" whilst i was wiggling through the hole didn't exactly make the process smooth-sailing. it also didnt help that about two seconds before we decided to attempt the hole squeeze a big group of japanese school kids on a school excursion decided to become spectators. nevertheless i made it through and hopefully now have good luck. i DID find a 100 yen coin on the ground about half an hour...



after snacking on some takoyaki we decided that we were satisfied for the day and headed back home to kobe. we were so exhausted that we all ended up falling asleep on the train.

good work team, looking forward to our next cultural experience. :)

we all felt super japanese falling asleep on the train

n.b. some photo credits go to my fellow culture gang members lilly and lucia