Jonah's Journey across Japan

 Today we checked out of our Kyoto hostel and took a train to Nara, which was the first 'permanent' capital of Japan from 710-794. Nara in Japanese means deer, and it shows, there are hundreds of deer walking around the main park in Nara. The deer are trained to bow to you for food, vendors sell crackers specifically to feed to them. Some deer were very good at bowing, some just slightly moved their head and expected crackers. It was a great experience getting that close to these big creatures, we even got to pet them because they were so  well domesticated.      The other big draw of Nara was the Todaiji temple, which was started in 738 (finished 752) and holds one of the biggest statues of Buddha in Japan. Creating the statue was such a big task that a majority of the city was involved in some aspect of building it. Inside the temple there is a hole in one of the support columns which is said to grant you luck if you can crawl through it. It was way too small ...

Today we took a train to Arashiyama park first thing in the morning. To get there we walked through a massive bamboo grove, which is why many people were there in the first place, so many people were taking pictures it was hard to walk through the path without getting in the way, so at a certain point you have to just stop caring and walk through.     Inside the bamboo grove there was a garden memorializing the former residence of Okochi Denjiro, a silent film actor. There were great views of the nearby gorge as well as serene beds of flowers and trees.     Then we walked over to Arashiyama park proper, which had better views of the gorge. We walked down to Katsura river and saw a cool waterfall across the way. Some people were riding around in boats and kayaks, which was a scenic addition to some pictures.     After taking some pictures there we headed over to Tenryuji temple, and there was a cool sculpture garden on one side of the street. We walked up to...

 On our first morning in Kyoto we woke up early to get to Fushimi Inari-taisha, despite our early arrival it was packed with people. Some parts were made as early as 711, but it is constantly being added to. Fushimi Inari-taisha is known for its long torii gate path of around 10,000 gates. It is a shrine to the Shinto god Inari, who represents rice, agriculture, industry, fertility, and foxes are its messengers. Inari is seen as the patron of merchants, so businesses donate to the shrine to add a torii gate to the path, with small gates costing  ¥400,00/$3,500 and big ones costing  ¥1,000,000/$9,00. The walk through the gate path and up the mountain was a beautiful experience, and the views were great. At the top of the mountain there was a cat cleaning itself on top of a torii gate and as amusing as that was itself, seeing everyone else being amused was entertaining too.     Then we worked our way down the mountain and had some lunch nearby. We took a train bac...

 Today was an eventful day, we started off by checking out and storing our bags at the hotel. We headed out to the morning markets by Miyagawa river. The markets were booming today because its a holiday week called golden week, four holidays from April 29 to May 5. April 29 is Showa day, the birthday of former emperor Showa. May 3 is Constitution day, the day Japan's postwar constitution was put into effect in 1947. The most significant part of the new constitution was that Japan removed the ability to wage war, but it does still have a self-defense force. May 4 is Greenery day, which is basically earth day, a day to appreciate nature and the planet. May 5 is Boy's day, when families pray for the health and success of their sons by putting up carp streamers and setting out samurai dolls, but don't worry there's also a Girl's day on March 3. On the way to the morning markets we saw this ginkgo tree that is apparently 1200 years old.     At the markets themselves we a...