Day 4 - We ventured out about an hour or so outside of Kyoto to the earliest established capital of Japan, Nara. Nara is famous for its deer, and keep a good number on the Todaiji temple grounds. These deer are relatively tame and love to be fed. Unfortunately, no one had the guts to ride on one. :(
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that specializes in Okonomiyaki, a type of cabbage and egg based pancake. In addition to cabbage and egg, there are other numerous ingredients you can add such as beef, shrimp, squid, pork, and vegetables like carrots and pumpkin. This is by far one of the top meals on this trip. The smallest servings were difficult to finish, so naturally James ordered a large.
 |  |
From there, we made our way to the Todaiji temple. The largest Buddhist temple in Japan, Todaiji contains the Great Buddha Hall which is the largest wooden building in the world. Filling the immense wooden structure is an equally huge statue of Buddha. Many Japanese were seen posing for pictures in the same position as the statue - right hand raised with the middle finger slanted forward with the left resting palm-up. It was a bit surprising to see so many Japanese at such a large tourist attraction.
A large percentage of the tourists were middle schoolers on field trips. Some had the assignment to have a conversation with a foreigner and take their picture. Needless to say, we felt like rock stars. We also bonded with the other tourists by going through an enlightenment process by which one must squeeze through a tiny hole in a pillar. Once you do this, you have been enlightened. Some of us were luck enough to make it through, however, others were not so lucky (poor Ryan).
Once we had our fill of enlightenment, we split up and went out separate ways. Some stayed in Nara for a while longer while others ventured back to Kyoto for the day. Hunter and I lagged behind and had the opportunity to talk to two other foreigners - one from Canada, the other from Germany - named Chris and Micah who gave us a lot of helpful tips on what places to visit. Ironically enough, we ran into them again at the Kyoto station after an hour long train ride. There, we had the greatest discovery of the day - KYOTO STATION itself. With 11 floors of shopping and restaurants, it is easy to kill an entire day in that building. On the very top floor/roof is a terrace and the best view of the city. It definitely deserves another visit.
On a side note, Hunter and I witnessed an adorable scene on the the train today - a mother and her 7-year-old son playing rock-paper-scissors, or in Japanese, Jan-ken-pon. It is far more intricate and in fact very different from the American version. They played for about 20 minutes non-stop and provided much entertainment to us both.
I would have to deem this day a huge success. Even though it began to rain after lunch, our spirits were not dampened. One thing remains true - green tea ice cream is the bomb.