NARA, JAPAN

OVERVIEW

• When: Total trip August 1-18, 2024. Nara: August 7, 2024
• Where (accommodations): Sora Niwa Terrace Kyoto
• Transportation: Air Canada from Boston (BOS) to Montreal (YUL) to Tokyo Narita (NRT). Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Kyoto, local train from Kyoto to Nara
• Sights/attractions: Naramachi district, Gango-ji temple, Nara Park (Nara Koen), Todai-ji Temple, Higashimuki Shopping Street
• Food/drinks: 7 Eleven, Nakatanidou, Yamato Craft Beer Table

Less than an hour train ride from Kyoto and Osaka this charming town is perfect for day trip. In our case it was more like half a day, because we went after a busy morning in Kyoto– right after climbing Fushimi Inari mountain. We did not have any advance reservations or train tickets and you don’t need it- trains run often, just use Suica on your phone and you are all set.

A little side note about that. You need to tap the phone entering train station and then do the same while exiting. My sister waved her phone and gate opened, so she entered the train station in Nara. However, when she was leaving, something malfunctioned and she did not end the trip. This resulted in her Suica being ‘stuck’ in Nara, as in she was still on the ongoing trip. When she needed to use Suica to enter the prepaid Shinkansen train from Kyoto to Hiroshima, she was getting an error, because of this ‘unfinished’ trip in Nara. Luckily we arrived to the train station with plenty of time, because we had to go to another floor to see customer service representative, who cleared the issue. Moral of the story- make sure that in each train station your trip starts and ends (when it ends, it will show that your Suica balance is lower on the phone).

We arrived to Nara right around lunch time – 1pm or so. 7 Eleven store was near by, so we grabbed some snacks before sightseeing.

Something to note about 7Eleven in Japan. It is NOTHING like the stores in the USA. Snacks and food in 7Eleven in Japan are actually delicious (cannot say that about the USA ones, you would not catch me eating food from 7Eleven here). There are so many options- from sushi to sweets, to drinks. We loved ‘melon bread’ with cream inside and the light cream puffs- they were so addictive, we had one pretty much every day once we discovered them. Do not leave Japan without trying snacks at 7Eleven!

Ok, now let’s explore Nara.

Naramachi district and Gango-ji temple

There are a lot of crowded areas in Nara, but we started with the calm and quiet one. Gango- ji temple was empty and the streets of the old Naramachi district were deserted when we were walking around in the heat of the day.

Gango- ji is a Buddhist temple that was one of the seven great temples of Nara. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the most ancient temples in Japan. It is not super grand and does not have this ‘wow’ factor, maybe that’s why it was not flooded with tourists. I’d say it’s a nice place to visit if you have time, but not a MUST see if you are in a rush.

As for Naramachi district and old houses- it was nice to stroll around.

A lot of the shops were closed, so we did not spend much time here, but it was a nice area to visit. It really felt like an Old Town.

Higashimuki Shopping Street

We did not plan for Higashimuki Shopping Street, but we noticed this covered mall walking by- it was lively, so we checked it out.

Casual restaurants, food stalls, souvenir shops- it’s great even during rainy days, because the whole street is covered. It is close to the famous mochi beating place – Nakatanidou. Unfortunately that store was closed, so we get less famous mochis instead (they were not good).

7Eleven snacks finished long ago and we were overdue for a lunch. Luckily Yamato Craft Beer Table had space, good food and beer! Perfect easy lunch while in Nara.

Cooled off and with full bellies, lets go say hi to the deer!

Nara Park

Nara Park is one of the oldest in Japan, established in 1880. The main attraction (and the main reason I chose a visit to Nara) is the friendly bowing deer. Friendly is relative and depends on the deer you encounter. There are signs everywhere warning about potential bite/kick/head butt of the deer because after all they are wild animals. But really, they just want cookies!

The deer at this park bow (especially if you bow first!). I don’t know who and how it started, but after a couple of bows the deer expect a reward. Do not feed them any human food- simple special cookies are sold in the park and they give you a lot for a small fee.

It is very cute seeing them bow and some are very gentle and polite. However, some can get aggressive and in that case just step away and hide the cookies. At one point we were surrounded and the deer started tugging at the shorts and Sean’s shirt. It did not hurt in any way, but they are not pets, so make sure you are in control of the situation.

Do not pet or feed the baby deer (fawns)- signs said that mother deer will stop feeding them if the baby has been touched by humans. Adult deer (if acting friendly) were OK to touch. There are SO MANY deer in Nara, from the park all the way to the Todai-ji Temple. They were on the sidewalks and even wandering in the open stores in hopes to cool off- it was a very hot day, too hot even for animals.

Todai-ji Temple

If you are not convinced that you should visit Nara for the bowing deer, then you should consider it for this Buddhist temple! Another one of the powerful Seven Great Temples of Nara this was a WOW temple for us.

From the massive wooden entrance gates, to the giant Buddha statues inside- everything about Todai- ji temple is GRAND.

The Buddha stands 15 meters high and is just one of the incredible statues inside. It was approaching closing time and it was not overly busy. I wish we had a little more time here, but even a short visit was worth it. This is a ‘MUST,’ if you are in Nara or close by.

This temple was registered as a Historic Monument of Ancient Nara by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1998. A lot of temples that we saw later on the trip had a hard time measuring up to Todai- ji.

CONCLUSION

Short but fun visit to Nara is easily done while staying in Kyoto. Some people do this while traveling between the cities too. There are lockers to leave suitcases in pretty much every train station in Japan, so you could go check out Nara while waiting to continue your trip from both Kyoto and Osaka. This city is located pretty much the same distance (about an hour train) from both. We wished we could have seen the mochi show, but there was no way to know that the store would be closed on that day. We were unexpectedly surprised at the majestic Todai- ji temple and of course we had fun feeding the bowing deer. Nara is an easy and great day-trip for the whole family!