KANSAI 行きましょ!! 奈良 & 神戶

8月 09, 2009

KANSAI 行きましょ!! 奈良 & 神戶

Like Kyoto, Nara is a city with a rich history. Eight temples, shrines, and ruins collectively make up the Historic Monuments or Ancient Nara, which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The two most monumental figures in Nara are the Daibutsu (big buddah) and shiga (deer). The sign belong cleverly mixes the two mascots together in a cute way.

可愛的大佛和鹿

Kofuku-ji is a Buddhist temple famous for its five story pagoda. In the Nara national park, there are many many deer there, but nobody seems to mind. This may be because deer serve as messengers for the gods in the Shinto religion, so they are sacred to the people. They are used to people feeding them snacks all the time, so they're very spoiled. One deer even ate my friend's map.

興福寺

成群的鹿

"Hi!"

創意鹿

The most famous temple is Toda-ji. This temple houses the world's largest Buddah statue and the Great Buddah Hall is the largest wooden building in the world. Once inside the Great Buddah Hall, I felt a serenity seep into me. Even though the buddah is colossal, it's not very intimidating. Buddah's face looks very calm and friendly, like an old friend. There is another statue of a god, called 藥師佛, placed in this temple. Although it is not gigantic, there are people who say that the buddah has healing powers. Although Nara and Kyoto are similar, they still differ in feel. Kyoto seems to be a tourist destination that is always jam packed. The life pace in Nara is slower and more chilled out. By the road in Nara, there were many little Japanese houses, traditional yet sheek. It would be quite a joy to be able to live in Nara.

花朵散落的御手洗

東大寺

樂師佛

大佛

Kimura sensei & me 模仿大佛

My first trip to Kobe was not at all impressive. We visited a district called the Kitano Ijikan, where there were many faux European styled houses. However, my trip to Kobe this time was very memorable. We visited Harborland, a shopping district recommended to us by Kimura Sensei. We visited the world's largest UNIQLO, wandered around by the quiet harbor, rode on a mini coaster in Mosaic Garden, mounted the Kobe tower to enjoy the night scenery of Kobe city, and took many fantastic photos. The only imperfection is that I missed out on Kobe steak! Oh well, that will just give me another reason to come again.