Nara via Osaka

Hai Pineapple desu!

Hi everyone! So from Dec. 26th until the 28th Keri, Keri's Mama-chan and I were staying in Osaka.
Maybe Keri will post a bit about Osaka, but I am going to make my post about Nara city (in Nara prefecture), a day trip we took from Osaka.
From 710-748 Nara had been the capital of Japan, so there are many beautiful temples and shrines in the city of Nara. The three sites that I visited were Kofuku-ji, Todai-ji, and Kasuga Shrine.



Nan'en-do at Kofuku Buddhist temple. Inside contains the Fukūkansaku Kannon, the doors of the hall are closed for the majority of the year, but for one day when people may come and gaze upon the Kannon. This is site no. 9 of the 33 pilgrimage sites throughout the Kansai area.


Here I am with the Great Buddha, or Daibutsu, housed in the Daibutsuden (great buddha hall) at Todai-ji temple. The hall itself is the largest wooden building in the world, and the buddha contained within is also the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. His fingers are roughly about the size of an average sized person.


This wooden support post with the carved out center gives a scale of one of the Buddha's nostrils. It is said that if you can pass through from one side to the next you will reach paradise/enlightenment. I'm pretty small so it wasn't a tight squeeze at all, but after me a French fellow in his late 20's was squeezed/pushed/pulled through by a group of his friends.


Here I am posing with one of Nara's most famous residents: The shika (Deer)!
The deer in Nara are tamed deer that are allowed to roam about the city, shrines/temples, and roads freely. They number at roughly 1,000 within the city. According to legend, one of the Gods was carried to Nara on the back of a great white deer to guard the then capital of Japan, Nara. Since this time deer have been regarded as heavenly creatures that guard the city of Nara as well as the country of Japan.

Now, here is a riddle/joke that my Japanese guide told me:

Why do people in Nara wake up so early?

**Hint**
The deer in Nara are protected by the government if you harm/injure one of the deer you will be punished.

The answer will be given on my next blog post!

ふゆ やすみ

Hai Pineapple desu!

ふゆ　やすみ (fuyu yasumi) is Japanese for winter break.
This winterbreak I am a busy busy little puppy. So expect many updates to occur!
My winterbreak started on Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve). During winterbreak it is pretty popular for people to travel around since kids are on school break. Since Keri isn't teaching school we also decided to travel around. Even more exciting is that Keri's mama-chan is visiting Japan, and so we decided it was the perfect time to do a tour of Japan. So on the evening of Dec. 26th we all piled into Keri's car drove to the station and caught out local train to Hiroshima. At Hiroshima we then transfered onto a shinkansen, or bullet train. We caught the nozomi (which means hope or wish) super express, which is one of the fastest trains in Japan, at maximum speed it travels 300 km/h or about 187 miles/hr. Pretty impressive! Keri has used the shinkansen multiple times, but for Pineapple and mama-chan, it was our first shinkansen trip!


Mama-chan and I on the Nozomi express from Hiroshima to.....(it's a surprise you have to check my next post!)