Always Honeymoon (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} alwayshoneymoon) wrote,@ 2004-01-26 21:45:00 |
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Nara
Okay, here are the real Nara photos.
Three Things for which Nara is Famous: Tourists, tame deer, and the world's oldest wooden building, only part of which you can see here.
The deer, by the way, are kind of mangy, and they make a noise I hadn't expected deer to make--a high squealing noise overlaid with buzzing, or vice versa. For a while we were concerned that they were going to explode, but fortunately not.
Deer were traditionally considered messengers to the gods, and they roam freely here, at Miyajima, and other sacred sites.
The main part of the building. It looks even larger than I remember. Can you spot the people in this photo?
A priest speaking with someone, and a small part of the massive doors.
Don't squint--it really is blurry. For some reason, this day my hands shook a lot, and thus I'm not posting any pictures of the huge Buddha statue inside. But I like the design of this lantern too much to not post it.
This picture's also a little blurry, but I figured some of you might like it. In a back corner of the inside of the main building, there was this ... pile of Buddha Bits. Actually, the heads in the back are from guardian deities, not Buddha.
The Riceburger we ordered at Mos Burger, Japan's homegrown McDonald's. To our surprise, the "bread" portion was actually two pressed rice patties, with bamboo shoots and stuff inside. Fascinating. I really enjoyed my Okinawan-style "burger," with a patty of fried mashed potato, a lot like something my mom used to make. Unfortunately, on the bun it just looked like an innocent chicken patty or something, so no photo for you.
This is actually in Sakai City, by the way, where we went on our last day in Nara. Why? Well, Sakai City has what Paul promptly dubbed "the Clarissa museum," which has one floor of Alphonse Mucha, and one floor of Yosano Akiko, a romantic female poet from the turn of the (20th) century. Art Nouveau was influencing Japan when Yosano was being published, and some of his artwork was ... errr ... borrowed to illustrate covers of her magazines. Naturally, no photos allowed there, but I bought an Alphonse Mucha book, and a beautiful enamel pin based on one of her poetry books' covers.
Okay, here are the real Nara photos.
Three Things for which Nara is Famous: Tourists, tame deer, and the world's oldest wooden building, only part of which you can see here.
The deer, by the way, are kind of mangy, and they make a noise I hadn't expected deer to make--a high squealing noise overlaid with buzzing, or vice versa. For a while we were concerned that they were going to explode, but fortunately not.
Deer were traditionally considered messengers to the gods, and they roam freely here, at Miyajima, and other sacred sites.
The main part of the building. It looks even larger than I remember. Can you spot the people in this photo?
A priest speaking with someone, and a small part of the massive doors.
Don't squint--it really is blurry. For some reason, this day my hands shook a lot, and thus I'm not posting any pictures of the huge Buddha statue inside. But I like the design of this lantern too much to not post it.
This picture's also a little blurry, but I figured some of you might like it. In a back corner of the inside of the main building, there was this ... pile of Buddha Bits. Actually, the heads in the back are from guardian deities, not Buddha.
The Riceburger we ordered at Mos Burger, Japan's homegrown McDonald's. To our surprise, the "bread" portion was actually two pressed rice patties, with bamboo shoots and stuff inside. Fascinating. I really enjoyed my Okinawan-style "burger," with a patty of fried mashed potato, a lot like something my mom used to make. Unfortunately, on the bun it just looked like an innocent chicken patty or something, so no photo for you.
This is actually in Sakai City, by the way, where we went on our last day in Nara. Why? Well, Sakai City has what Paul promptly dubbed "the Clarissa museum," which has one floor of Alphonse Mucha, and one floor of Yosano Akiko, a romantic female poet from the turn of the (20th) century. Art Nouveau was influencing Japan when Yosano was being published, and some of his artwork was ... errr ... borrowed to illustrate covers of her magazines. Naturally, no photos allowed there, but I bought an Alphonse Mucha book, and a beautiful enamel pin based on one of her poetry books' covers.
