Nara, Japan Travel Blogs

Thundering Todaiji
Apr 3, 2006 (4 photos)

With one day left on my pass I spent the day in Nara, Japan's first capital, even if it's fame was short lived to be replaced soon after by Kyoto. There is no Shinkansen line to Nara so it was back on the regular trains again which really did feel slow ...

Nara
Apr 20, 2009 (15 photos)

Nara is one of the loveliest cities we've seen on our travels. Once the imperial capital of Japan, Nara is nowadays a compact quiet and quaint town. A large park covers almost a quarter of the city, and within it one can visit a series of temples and ...

Oh deer its Nara!
Apr 9, 2008 (19 photos)

... wooden structure in the world and has been reconstructed at 2/3 of the original size. It also houses the largest Buddha statue in Japan and is truly amazing to actually see and is very beautiful. We spent a bit of time looking inside the temple before ...

Japan's Cradle
Jul 20, 2005 (8 photos)

... a full four days away from the rat race here, visiting the ancient capital of Kyoto, the even more ancient capital of Nara, and Osaka, Japan's second city. I'm glad to say the trip was well worth the pain of working extra days before and since, and I will ...

Ohayo Gozaimasu!
Dec 4, 2004 (48 photos)

... only foreigners to have visited Japan and not tried the sushi. How is that possible?! NARA A few weeks ago we headed to Nara (Japan's first capital city) with a bunch of friends to see Todaiji temple (home of the world's biggest Buddha). He is quite ...

Nara
Aug 12, 2003 (1 photos)

An hour or so outside central Osaka by train is Nara, one of my favourite places. Its high on the tourist lists, but not as popular as Kyoto.  I used to go and teach there a lot and go out early and wander around. It always reminded me of the Blue ...

Nara
Sep 4, 2008 (20 photos)

Our next port of call was Nara - the former capital of Japan (710 to 784). It was considered the cradle of Japanese culture, arts and crafts; all of which are still present today. Nara is a beatiful place to visit with many sites listed ...

Nara
Jun 20, 2007 (9 photos)

... they have seen the signal and b) it stops them falling asleep! Its brilliant to watch and a must for any visitor on a train in Japan. Once in Nara we took the city loop bus to our next home. This time we decided to book into a Ryokan. How can I describe ...

A Life of Sushi and Pocari Sweat
May 1, 2007 (40 photos)

... sugary than lucosade and tastes fab. So living on a reasonable budget and traveling on local trains I made my way down to Nara, the old city of Japan. Only one hour south of Kyoto and full of wild dear wondering around, or tame what ever way you see it, ...

Deer oh deer oh deer
Jul 20, 2005 (7 photos)

... Kobe, Nara is one of the four cities that make up the Kansai region. Before Kyoto became the capital of Japan 794AD this honour was held by Nara, a town some 35km south of Kyoto in an area which prides itself on being the birthplace of Japanese culture. ...

Nara
Dec 13, 2008 (2 photos)

... influence began flowing. In contrast to what I had thought, there aren't significant numbers of Shinto living anywhere besides Japan. Another bit of interesting information... Buddhism and Shinto have been widely influenced by each other. This is why their ...

Nara and the month that followed
Jun 24, 2004 (8 photos)

... myself just too lazy/frustrated to do other things like updates and learning japanese perhaps anywho so yeh Nara... The once imperial capital of Japan lies sleepily at the base of the Wakakusa-yama hill and for such a place the old temples , ...

Temples, temples and more temples. Oh, and deer.
May 15, 2007

... separated and everyone`s naked together. It`s very different to a Turkish bath, where someone washes you and then you sit around. In Japan, you wash yourself first under a shower, then get into the big communal bath. This one was an outside onsen, with a ...

Temples and deer
Oct 5, 2008 (23 photos)

After Osaka it was time to look for some traditional culture so we headed to Nara with it's famous park filled with temples, shrines and deer. The deer are supposedly messengers from the gods and walk around freely throughout the park area. You can ...

Kyoto Imoerial Palace then off to Nara!
Jun 6, 2007

... was pretty neat. We headed out of Kyoto on the train to Nara. This was the first time I experienced any kind of delay in Japan. Punctuality is a HUGE deal here, so it was a bit disarming to wait at a station and not know what the hell the problem was. ...

Nara ... old capital and deer paradise!
Jul 5, 2009 (8 photos)

... old, old capital, Nara.  In Nara we hired an English speaking guide who took us around the various sites of the Nara Park - again temples and shrines but this time in a beautiful park setting, complete with very protected, very pushy deer.  The ...

Ninja Demonstrations & Nara Deer Galore
May 12, 2008 (5 photos)

... in the world. Apparently the present reconstruction (from 1692) is only two thirds the original temple size! Now, this temple houses Japan's largest Buddha statue which is made of 437 tonnes of bronze & 130kg of gold and stands 16 metres tall. When ...

Japan's Ancient Capital
Aug 10, 2006 (28 photos)

... were taking shape in the Western Hemisphere, Nara was the center of a highly developed cultural, religious, and political system in Japan. Walking throuh the same ancient temple grounds and forests, I tried to retrace the ancient steps of the people, to ...

Back home
Jan 8, 2006

Exhaustos pero con una gran satisfacción... por cierto, ya estamos planeando el siguiente viaje.

An hour in Nara...
Jul 15, 2007 (10 photos)

... has promised me that tonight we are going out!!!!!!!!    We got all dressed up (the first time since arriving in Japan), and took the train to Namba station to the Minami section of Osaka.  The lonely planet has said that the bars and ...

Original Capital of Japan
Nov 5, 2007 (8 photos)

Nara was the first capital of Japan. There is a huge park in the center of town with lots of temples and shrines. The most popular one is Todai-Ji. The Daibutsu-Den Hall in the center of the grounds is the largest wooden building in the world and ...

Kansai Region - Nara
Nov 4, 2006 (14 photos)

On Friday we spent the morning in Nara, one of the centers of religions life in Japan. In Nara, there are free range deer EVERYWHERE! You can buy special crackers to feed them, although they eat the paper the crackers come in too, so I don't think they ...

Infestation of deer
Jun 23, 2007 (5 photos)

The temples were great but watching the deer terrorize small children was better

Oldest capital Japans
Mar 27, 2008 (102 photos)

... Und fast alle Tempel sind auch mal abgebrannt oder aehnlich und wurden neu aufgebaut (aber teilweise vor Jahrhunderten). Nara besitzt heute sieben UNESCO Weltkulturerbestaetten. Die buddhistischen Tempel Todai-Ji, der bekannteste Tempel Naras. Die ...

a day trip to Nara, temples and lanterns
Mar 26, 2009 (14 photos)

We set off for Nara today, about an hour's train journey from Kyoto, the Japan Rail passes are brilliant !! It was a bit grey and rainy as we walked from the station up to Nara Koen - the park where the main temple buildings are. We were ...

Nara
Jan 11, 2005

aaahhh deer

Fishy food
May 28, 2008 (7 photos)

... ! I went to Kofukuji Temple, Todaiji Temple, the Great Bell, Nigatsu-do-Hall and Kasuga Taisha Shrine. In Kyoto and Nara there have been school kids everywhere with questionnaires to ask foreigners. After shyly questioning you, they ask to take your ...

You wont find Kabuto....
Jun 3, 2004 (9 photos)

... roar of ball bearings and zombies pressing buttons. To explain this phenomena which happens to be Korea's greatest export to Japan, its a bit like pokies back home except apparently gambling is illegal or something so basically they use these ball bearing ...

Nara... mini Kyoto
Jun 5, 2008 (16 photos)

... which was constructed back around 700AD. The shrine was built to house a giant golden Buddah statue which it is said almost bankrupt Japan due to its incredible cost. The statue, which is a monstrous 15-metres high, is over 1000 years old now but still ...

Adios Kyoto, hola Nara
Jul 27, 2009

... y Tokyo, entre 710 AC y el 784. En la estacion de trenes, la senora en informacion nos recomendo que para ver lo mejor de Nara en unas horas, nos dirijieramos al templo de Kasuga Taisha y despues a ver el Daibutsu (buddha) en Todai-ji. Cogimos el autobus ...