Nara-Smack that Deer

We went to Nara, the most ancient capital of Japan, for one reason and one reason only, to see the giant Buddha. There is a giant statue of Buddha in Nara made completely of bronze. He is big, very big. The pictures don't really show his truly imposing stature, but to give you an idea of his size; I read an article that said that every year the Buddha is cleaned and it takes 200 monks to do it. Even better perhaps is this picture...

This is me crawling through a hole the size of the Buddha's nostril. Supossedly, those who are able to make the journey through the nostril will reach enlightenment, however, I lost my skirt on the way out and two very handsome 20-somethings from California saw "the goods" as you may say. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not "into" cutsie underwear...so yea, I make it through the nostril and there is Jonathan helping me pull my skirt back up over my bloomers in front of some hot, giggling co-eds with designer t-shirts and cool sun glasses. Oh well.

Nara is also known for it's tame deer. These deer were actually really pretty and were growing new antlers when we arrived. It seems that the dear are sacred here because, according to legend, a mythical god charged with protecting the city arrived in Nara riding a white deer. When I first saw this sign I felt a little afraid of the dear:
Those look like some mean cartoon deer. But I soon realized there was nothing to fear. As you can see:

Even though the deer are suppossedly sacred, we saw several street vendors cursing at them. How could you dislike such sweet little animales?

The Japanese really like cartoons. They are everywhere. I'll make a post about it sometime. Nara has decided to give itself a cartoon mascot to represent the city. No, Nara didn't want to have a flag or a coat of arms at its city hall building. Nara wanted to have a three foot tall cartoon boy with antlers. This boy's image was everywhere around the city.
Here are the rest of the pictures from our stay in Nara:

Nara is in the "country." These are rice fields that we passed on the train on our way to Nara.

One of the gods protecting the Buddha.

BIG BUDDHA

Another god protecting Buddha.

This is Kannon sitting next to Buddha. If I didn't know better she would look like his girlfriend.

This is the house that the Buddha and his friends live it. He filled the house all the way to the rafters. Jonathan asked little Japanese school boys to take this picture. That were like..."ahhhhh, uhm. Hahro. (hello) Yes. Yes." They were very cute.

This is a god that we found outside the Buddha Temple. It's a healing god. If you are unwell you touch the part of the god's body that hurts and then touch the corresponding part of your own body. You will be healed. Jonathan wanted to try it out for his chaffing, but then he decided that it would probably be inappropriate to touch the god there, so he tried healing a mosquito bite instead.

This is a little baby we ran into at the temple. He followed us momentarily, to his parents dismay. When they realized that we loved him and thought he was the cutest baby ever, they let us play with him and take his picture. He would smile really big like this, and then look like he was about to have a break down. It was pretty adorable.

This is me in a forest by a rock thinking, "Yay! Another temple!" Right after this picture, Jonathan and I took a much needed 5 minute break from each other. Then we were in love again.

This is Jonathan. He loves Japan. A lot.

This is what we eat for breakfast when we are traveling in Japan. We stop by a convenie and purchase all the delectable breads, danishes, yogurts, and juices that we want for around $6. Here we have chocolate swirl bread, an apple danish thingy, two yogurts, two o-nigiri (a triangular rice cake with a tasty treat inside like salmon are pickled seaweed, covered in seaweed paper. It's really yummy.) AND orange juice.