Nara and Kyoto

This past week I went with my friend Masaki to Nara (his hometown) and Kyoto. It was my first time to visit both places, and also my first time to ride the Shinkansen bullet train. Nara was the capitol of ancient Japan before it was moved to Kyoto, so there are lots of old temples, shrines, and deer (once considered sacred). We were lucky to visit Nara while there was a special light festival with all the major sights lit up with lanterns at night. Kyoto is rich with history, and walking around the streets from temple to shrine to castle and just soaking up the atmospere was a great experience. The highlights of Kyoto were the Byoudou-in (featured on the 10 yen coin), the Kinkaku-ji golden pavilion, the Fushimi Inari Taisha with its many red gates, and my first traditional tea ceremony. We were lucky to have mostly sunny weather, but the heat was pretty oppressive! A dip in a traditional Japanese sentou bath was refreshing after walking around all day.