Father and Son Part 4

Although there is still much more to see in Kyoto (with over 2000 temples and 1200 years of history, there is always more to see in Kyoto), I insist on a day trip to Nara, Japan's first capital. Unlike Kyoto, which is still a functioning metropolis, Nara is entirely historical. The centre of the city is one giant park, dotted here and there with world-heritage sights and a lot of deer. It is sleepy compared to Kyoto, an entire world apart from frantic Kyoto. Its time as the capital in the 7th century coincided with the rise of buddhism in Japan, and as a result it is home to some of Japan's greatest Buddhist treasures. The greatest of these is Todaiji, the giant (and I mean giant) temple in the centre of the city. In order to get there you walk through about 500m of gates, one of which contains two gigantic fearsome looking guardians said to be two of the worlds greatest wooden carvings. They are designed to keep evil out of the temple, standing two stories high and with wooden robes flowing over their muscle bound bodies - if I was evil, I would stay away.

Between the many gates are yet more deer standing around, waiting for foolish tourists to buy deer food from the many stands lining the path. The deer know where the food stands are, and they know that when money is exchanged the tourist now has deer food in their hands. The moment the tourist finishes the transaction, they are surrounded by deer which bluntly demand the food that they have just born. Some people try and resist, try to hold the food above their heads and feed them one by one, but it is no use. In the end the deer always win, and most people just toss the food at them and run the other way, glad to escape with their life.

Having walked through the final gate, you suddenly have Todaiji in front of you. As the worlds largest wooden building, its size is hard to capture in words or even pictures. It is big, very very big. Built 1300 years ago, it used to be even bigger but was burnt to the ground several times, each time rebuilt to slightly different specifications. One thing has not changed though - in the centre of the temple sits the worlds largest indoor buddha statue. He is also very big, big enough that he needs the worlds largest wooden building just to keep him out of the rain. Gigantic guardians, gigantic temple, gigantic buddha.

A short walk above Todaiji is another temple, overlooking the city of Nara, where weary travellers like us can look out over the city where Japan began. The last sunset of our journey is complete, and the after one last night in our luxury hotel in Kyoto we say goodbye to the ancient city and are on the shinkansen back home.

With a suitcase full of souvenirs for friends and family in Australia, and a backpack full of famous Kyoto-region foods for my host family, we step off the train in Tokyo station. Here we say goodbye, for the remaining few months of my journey anyway, and just as soon as my dad was here he is gone again. I can honestly say it has been the most interesting week yet in all my travels of Japan, and I am glad my father was there to experience it with me. Some of the experiences were new to me, and some were familiar, but they were all better with the right company. Having spent most of my life being led in one way or another by my parents, it was very strange to suddenly be leading my dad around, but I had a lot of fun doing it, and I hope he had fun too.

The pace of life settles down once more, and the next train I catch leads not to towering skyscrapers or ancient temples, but to the back room of a pub, where I wash dishes for the night.