Kyoto Part II: Nara Feeding Frenzy

4:30am - Sleep Finally Comes

The novelty of sleeping in a room full of other people has worn off. I finally get to sleep after hearing and eventually managing to tune out all sorts of body noises around me.

6:00am - Wake Up I

I am awoken by all the TVs that come on at once. I didn’t realize it, but each individual recliner has tiny speakers with a switch that will tune them in to the different channels being displayed on the TVs. The last person to use my chair must have been deaf, because channel 8 is blasting the morning's news in my ears. Despite my grogginess, in a matter of seconds I manage to locate the volume, turn it to the off position, and fall back asleep.

7:30am - Wake Up 2

Masa hovers over me. I am able to make out something about either sleeping for a few more minutes, or having a morning bath… it’s a tough call, but decide that a bath will probably do my lack of sleep much better than a few more minutes of sleep. 30 minutes and a dunk in the cold pool later I am awake and feeling great.

9:00am - Shika Koen

As soon as we get out of the car we are approached by several deer. They are fearless and seem to be looking for breakfast. Once they realize that we are going to be stingy with our own breakfasts, they go away, in search of some more compassionate visitors. We head to a little gazebo in the park and have our breakfast of various breads that we pick up at a local bakery. Boy, Japanese know how to bake! Although I was somewhat saddened by the lack of my favorite pastry, curry-filled donuts, at this particular bakery, I can respect them for trying to stick to an authentic selection. After breakfast we head further into the park to witness what must be a favorite past-time of many Japanese parents. It’s a simple, yet proven formula:

Cute child + deer-food + hungry deer = hilarity!

11:00am - Feeding Time!

As we get closer to where most of the deer wander you can hear little children laughing, but only if you strain past the noise of all the other little children screaming and crying. Here is what I saw happen several times:

1. The parents give their child senbe, rice crackers the deers go crazy for.

2. The innocent kid waves the senbe at a deer, who comes to nibble at the snack.

3. Other deer see that the child has snacks and they start to swarm.

4. The panicking kid drops the remaining snacks in their tiny hand and runs away screaming kowai! kowai! (scary!) and starts crying.

5. The parents are video taping the whole experience and laugh their heads off.

One of the first sentences I completely understood in Japanese was a mother saying to a father, Kamera ga arimasuka? Ima, kodomo ni senbe agemasu (Do you have the camera? I'm going to give the kids the senbe now.).

Drew also had a run-in with a deer. He didn't run away like the smart kids did, so the deer bit him in the crotch. Ouch.

12:00am - Todaiji Temple

Located at the end of Shika park is one of the most beautiful temples in the region. Todaiji temple.

To get there we first pass through two gigantic gates that have large scary-looking guardians encased in each beam. Think 70-ft tall gargoyles. At the second gate, we wave incense over ourselves for the first round of cleansing, and then wash our hands and drink water for the second cleansing. We then enter the temple and see one of the largest buddhas in the world.

You can’t tell from the picture, but the high-school volunteers that were our tour guides told us that 20 people could fit in the left hand of the buddha. Needless to say, he was huge. So huge in fact, that Dan could fit through his nose, as demonstrated by this nostril-sized hole that was carved out of one of the support beams.

5:00pm Dinnertime!

Before heading to the restaurant we had reserved, we met up with Chiaki's 6-year-old niece and her two 5 and 9-year-old “fiancees” to see how they fared with the deer in the park. I must say, they did better than most children we saw. Only the 5-year-old threw down his senbe and cried, and this was only because a 150 pound deer head-butted him in the chest, lifting him off the ground. Sounds brutal, I know, but that didn't stop us from laughing.

We went to a restaurant that specialized in fried rice. It was OK, but not nearly enough for how hungry I had grown from walking around all day. I was also tired from the lack of sleep and had to leave the table to walk around and keep from dozing off. After dinner we headed to another onsen to clean up before heading to Chiaki's parents house.

9:00pm Chiaki's Parents

Re-invigorated by the pools at the onsen, we stayed up talking and eating snacks with Chiaki's parents. Masa and Chiaki were great translators and as the night progressed we got deeper and deeper into meaningful conversation… although by midnight, it was mostly the beers and sake that were doing the talking; I had long since mentally checked out. We had a blast though. Chiaki's parents were suupaa kuuru and generous.

12:00am Finally, a Real Bedtime

There was no noise but the faint sounds of the nearby highway. I was instantly asleep without the fear of farty grandpas or TVs to wake me.

Well thats all for Saturday. I’ll post Sunday soon: Birthday kisses, beautiful leaves, and tea ceremony in Kyoto.