The Japan Chronicles: Part 5

Doe, a deer.

Blow drying my hair never felt better… crumbling to the convenience of small luxuries this early in the trip (day five) leaves me concerned for how I’ll fare come my two month tour across SE Asia and India.

People have been so kind; showing us the way, either by drawing a map or taking us there. Japan is a magical place. The mystique of the far east, but a western seeming place, indeed.

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Sometime later, my love of the Japanese people was reignited. Seriously, the people are so kind here. I remember thinking, “No way that’s possible!” when I was told Japanese were kinder than Koreans. Don’t get me wrong, Koreans are extraordinarily friendly, but the Japanese – amazing. Good people. It’s so true, the more travels I take, the more I realize that people are just people and we’re all here trying to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is. [Thank you, Vonnegut.]

Nara. The birthplace of Japanese imperialism.

The city is currently celebrating its 1300 year history. We joined in on the celebration with a tour of the deer-ridden area. Deer everywhere might not seem so bad, and could be magical, but these deer are a different breed. Believed to be messengers from the gods (pre-Buddhism), these deer have been coddled by humans for centuries – at least a millennium! – and are not afraid to see if you have something worth room in their bellies. Cute from a distance, slightly menacing up close and personal – if you have a cracker, watch out! That’s all I’ll say.

One little girl made the mistake of being short (read: deer-level) and distributing her crackers slowly. The deer seemed to telepathically alert each other of the opportunity at hand and soon there was a swarm around this screaming child, crackers in hand. Her mother shielded her and tried to bat away the deer, but they pushed on, unfazed by the whacks and thwacks. The mother then moved the girl up to higher ground, but the deer craned their necks. Eventually the mother regained her senses and threw her daughter’s crackers at the beasts, after which they happily retreated. The daughter was then scolded by her father for being an embarrassment and making a scene. It was pretty funny. I was lucky enough to capture some of the incident on video (please disregard my deer-related ramblings, if you can even hear them over the screams).

I suppose I shouldn’t be so hard on the girl, though. I was feeding the deer crackers, myself, and there was at least one that kept biting at the flowers on my shirt and one stepped on my toes with its hooves!! And they had antlers… so yeah, I guess it would be scream-worthy being attacked at their level. All you can see are their big eyes… and as we know from Roy’s reaction upon first meeting me, big eyes can be tear-inducing for an Asian child (though by and large, it seemed that Japanese people have bigger eyes than Koreans).

The area the deer were trolling around was Nara-koen, the park that included many Japanese National Treasures, deer included; Kofuku-ji, (“ji” is Japanese for “temple”) the three- and five-storied pagodas, and Todai-ji, which houses Daibutsu-den Hall, the largest wooden structure in the world. Daibutsu-den Hall also houses the world’s largest indoor Buddha, at 50 feet high; it’s the image of Dainichi Buddha, or the cosmic Buddha, believed to be the first Buddha… in my understanding of things. It was pretty spectacular, and in the giant gate leading up to the hall there were these two massive [Nio] guardians carved out of wood who looked like something out of Ghostbusters. Apparently they were recently restored, too. (The mesh covering the roof overhangs and various outdoor statues is intended to keep large winged creatures from making their homes there.)

Overall, Nara was pretty incredible. I always find it so strange to visit places that have been around since before 1000 BCE. Then again, this whole experience is only my first time abroad, so I haven’t had many chance encounters with ancient civilizations.

After we saw the main sites, we ate falafel – wow, simple pleasures! – and hopped a train to Hiroshima.