Japan 2006 Day 4: Nara and Surrounds

From base camp in Kyoto, Day 4 was set aside for a day trip to the town of Nara, about an hour outside of Kyoto. Now I know I've been hyping up the temples in Kyoto, but believe it or not, Nara's plethora of ancient shrines makes Kyoto look like... well... Jared's medal cabinent...


The party has barely hit the first temple hotspot before a giggling group of school kids rushes up to practice their English. Here Jared puts on a brave face as his yankee drawl is exposed for the primitive string of grunts that it is, as the eager pupils breeze through the conversation with immaculate pronunciation...

First stop on the Temple Tour, the un-poetically named Five Storied Pagoda (pagoda names are definitely an area the Chinese have the edge - which sounds more inspiring, the "Thundering Mountain Pagoda" or the "Five Storied Pagoda?). This forms one flank of a big temple complex. So big in fact that it contains the largest wooden building in the world at its centre (see below).


Here's the monolithic wooden structure. Through a clever trick, the cameraman exagerates its size by placing a shorty in the foreground ;)


And now you see why they need such a big building - to house this friendly looking chap. According to our cultural expert Dr Zhu (who paused her detailed analysis of the local cuisine long enough for a rare interview), this bloke's job is to guard the big man himself - no not that bloke trying to slink past in the shadows - but Buddha.


Here he is. It's hard to appreciate the scale in the photo, but in real life he's at least tall stories tall. The statue that is, I'm assuming the guy himself wasn't quite so imposing.


Now here's a challenge for someone who's packed away a few to many Katsudon already. The word on the street is that crawling through this hole gives you lots of luck. It certainly worked in Rock's case - he was lucky enough not to get stuck and suffer the humiliation of having to get pulled out by the local fire department (a fate not unheard of for podgy westerners if Lonely Planet is to be believed).


"Yikes! My shorts are getting left behind!"


Having all squirmed through the hole, and confident that luck was now on their side (especially Rock who just managed to avoid discarding his pants on the way through), the group set forth for the next temple on the map. This one had a lot of lanterns. I believe the translation was something along the lines of "The Temple with a Thousand Lanterns". (What did I say about utilitarian Japanese naming conventions? Or perhaps the subtleties are just to complex to be translated into crude English).
Temple hopping can be tiring business. So what better place to relax than a traditional Japanese garden, with its precisely crafted aesthetics? In theory anyway. It's hard to relax when a demanding photographer keeps yelling for one more pose as he seeks the perfect shot.


See what I mean?


Feeling much like the faithful readers of this blog (all four of them), who are no doubt thoroughly sick of reading about temples, the adventurers headed back to a temple of a different kind - the awe-inspiring architecture of the recently completed Kyoto Station. Here, on the the 15th floor, with the cavernous atrium stretching to infinity below, Rock prepares to deliver his very best "No I am your father" line...

Another great day in Japan comes to an end. Even Rach's zipper has gotten into the neon lights mood.


But wait, what's this? Is it a flying sushi platter hovering over Kyoto? Is it Megatokyo? It is George Lucas once again getting carried away with gratuitous CGI? Or is it some clever reflection photography by Miss Zhu? There's no answer too weird in this country of contrasts...