Nara and Kobe

Last weekend my friend Jay and I went on another excursion, this time staying in Japan. On Friday night we took a bus from northern Kyushu to Osaka. We left at 11pm and arrived in the morning around 8am. We overslept our stop on the bus (Osaka), arriving in Kyoto a half an hour later. From Kyoto we took an hour long train to Nara, where we spent the day checking out a few sites.

Nara was Japan's first permanent capital, before it was moved to Kyoto. The town is full of old buildings, though many have been rebuilt since the 8th century (Nara was the capital from 710-794 AD). The most famous site in Nara and maybe in all of Japan is the Great Buddha Hall in a temple called Todai-ji. After checking it out myself, I can understand why. The Buddha itself is inside one of the largest wooden structures in the world. In addition the temple gate is guarded by two enormous, impressive looking demon statues. Then there's the Buddha. This dude is HUGE with the most calm face you've ever seen; it is a wonder to me how it was made and got moved around.

Also, knowing that Buddhism was introduced to Japan around the 7th/8th century and has been a big part of its history ever since, I had another moment of wonder as I was staring at this Buddha's large face. When Buddhism was introduced to Japan from India, moving first through China and Korea, what was it about the religion that made it resonate like it did? I mean they built this massive thing to worship, right? I had a little feeling of awe to realize that I was living in a place where this religion became hugely popular in a way Christianity did among people in the West. The cultural differences between East and West really fascinate me, and as I think about this feeling I had, I know it raises more questions for me than it gives answers.

After Nara we stayed the night in Kobe with Jay's Indonesian friend Mazy. The trio we made included an Indonesian, a Phillipino and an American - perfect for this city. Kobe is a city famous as a port for trading and cultural exchange, like Yokohama and Nagasaki. It's also famous for being affected by the large earthquake that hit Japan in 1995. And of course there is the famous kobe beef (Kobe Gyuu) that comes from there. On Sunday we took a cable car up a hill to get a nice view of the city and the port. In the evening we took a ferry to a nearby island and passed beneath Akashi bridge, which connects Kobe to this island. We saw a beautiful sunset from the ferry. The weather was beautiful for us all weekend - on and off sunny/cloudy with a nice autumn breeze blowing crisp air. We took off on Monday morning by bus and arrived back in Kitakyushu in the evening. This was a great, relatively cheap weekend adventure for us and I'm happy I went. A Big Thanks to Mazy our guide and host in Kobe.

Stay tuned for pics!