Nara

On Wednesday I took a trip to Nara, which was the capital of Japan, before Kyoto and then Tokyo.
The main motivation for going was an exhibition which was offering free entry to international students. The exhibition was of Shoso-in Treasures. This is basically an exhibition of ancient museum pieces - these are stored in a treasure house which contains more than 9000 items of historical significance. Every year in Autumn, around 60 items are picked to be shown in this exhibition. When the items are shown, they cannot then be shown again for 10 or more years. The exhibition I saw was the 63rd, so I suppose they have enough to go round for a few year or so....

Although it was really interesting, it was quite difficult to see the pieces very well, the exhibition was so crowded (although being taller than most people here, afforded me a slightly better view). It seems as if in Japan there are certain things you must see and this is one of them, pushed round in conveyor belt style, not really seeing anything, but saying you have been there. Not the best way to actually see an exhibition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Ds%C5%8Din
More about the Shosoin.

Nara itself is pretty but a really touristic place... mostly for Japanese tourists..

But one of things Nara is famous for is the deer.... they wander about the place freely and are not afraid of humans...

You can buy deer biscuits to feed them, if you want a crowd of deer following you.... I didn´t even have any biscuits and I stopped for one moment and one came up to me and licked me on the leg. Yuck.

The other thing Nara is famous for is the Todai-ji Temple which has Daibutsuden Hall - the world´s largest wooden building.

It is pretty big and it has a large Buddha inside.

If you want to help with restoration, you can buy a tile on which your name is written and it will be used to restore the roof.

And with this you are supposed to touch the statue and then rub the part of your body where you have some ailment, which will then in turn presumably be cured.

This place was also quite busy.

People walking to the temple.

Nara is a crowded place...

Nara mascots