Last day in Nara was going to be an exhausting experience although a wicked day too. Like I always say you’ve got to walk along the roads, alleys, mews, tidy and dirty roads and lastly go through the places tourist books don’t tell you about. For me that is the best way to get to know a city.
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Nara is a big city but that day I discovered (from a tourist and ignorant point of view) that the city itself has different faces. The farther West you go the simpler it gets, the poorer (in some places) it becomes and least developed it turns.
I’m not saying you’re going to come across ugly places, its’ just an image of a Japan that I did not expected to see in a city like Nara.
In the hostel I got this cool tourist map in English with the name of the places in Kanji and that was very helpful moving forwards.
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| Nara landmark map |
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| Nara map - tourist |
The first place I was going to visit was the Heijo-kyu also known as the Nara Imperial Palace. The whole neighbourhood near the Palace was different from the more commercial and vibrant Nara centre.
I’d go as far as to tell you that Nara has two very distinctive zones from Nara JR Station to the East is more developed, you find modern constructions, buildings, supermarkes, it’s tidy and clean and definitely greener. On the West it’s less developed, there are many empty lands, a lot of car showrooms, many downgraded houses and everything looks older by some reason.
People also tend to be a bit happier and friendlier near the tourists and newer and modern zones on the East, whereas on the West people also can turn a bit violent and less educated – shocking I know but that’s what I was talking about when I said earlier “ the different faces of Nara”.
Heijo Kyu 平城宮
The Heijo Kyu 平城宮 or Nara Imperial Palace was from 710 and for 70 years the Capital city of Japan. Sadly, nowadays this has changed and tourists will only find remains of what used to be a huge Palace. Also do not be surprised if people at the hostel or hotel you’re staying tell you not to go, but there’s a reason why they tell you so. There’s honestly not much to see or take pictures of. However, the remains of the Palace still offer some few things that are worth visiting.One of those things is, the South Gate or Suzakumon or Suzaku Gate that was almost 1 kilometre and half apart from the remains of the Palace. The Gate itself had to be restored in 1998 and it does make it look amazingly beautiful. Even though it might have lost the old feeling, it shows the beauty of a previous period.
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| Suzakumon - Suzaku Gate Nara 朱雀門 |
But like I said before the walk is interrupted with train rails. I wanted to walk up to the North Part but I couldn’t because it is blocked by the JR rails. Instead the guards (since there’s no tourist guide around) told me that I could get a closer look going to a car park near the Suzakumon.
I took some pictures here and there and tried to look for information about the place available in English.
Luckily they’ve got this big drawing with information about the place, a short but concise summary of the area around the South Gate and that’s it. Still that’s better than nothing, isn’t it?
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| Suzaku Gate History Nara - 朱雀門 |
Something that I can’t show you on the pictures and unfortunately I haven’t got a helicopter to go up and take an aerial picture is how flat Nara is on the West part. And bring back what I’ve been telling you about how different it is on the East and West, I wonder if the hilly/mountainous part and the flat parts of Nara set a border between the wealthy and poor people. Seriously, this is neither unique to Nara nor to Japan, because you can find this in many other cities around the world, where the poor live on the lower grounds and the rich on the high part of the cities.
I left behind the Heijo-kyu and now I was heading towards Toshodaiji Temple a UNESCO world Heritage place and right in the far West part of Nara.
Toshodai-ji 唐招提寺
On my way to the temple I came across many picturesque things like farmlands, empty roads where no tourists or people were seeing. By some reason and even though it was December that day was very hot. The temperature was 18C and I was carrying a thick winter jacket which obviously didn’t help at all. I did see many people cycling and I regretted so much not having rented a bike in Kyobate Station, but it was too late and I was far away.The advantage of walking Nara is that the streets and main roads are very clear on the maps and there’s no way you can get lost in the West side of the city since there aren’t little streets to get in or deviate you from your route.
When you’re walking southbound coming from the Heijo-kyu you’ll have the Toshodai-ji tample on the right hand side. Everything around that part starts getting greener like in the East and you start seeing more people. In my case I came across this big group of very young school students. They might have been max 10 years old, all wearing the typical Japanese yellow hat against the sun (even though there was no sun, it was warm yes, but not sunny). They are so cute and friendly; they all said to me “ohayou” or “yahou” even the teachers waved at me couple of times.
Very close to the temple and not many people, that’s a good sign although it could well be the opposite but who knows. From outside you cannot really tell how big the temple is. The temple has a massive wall that doesn't look new so it means that it has been there since the beginning.
The Toshodai-ji temple was founded by a Chinese monk called Jianzhen in 759 during the Nara period.
One thing that I like about all Buddhist temples is the presence of very dark wood used to build the halls, pagodas and other buildings.
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| Toshodaiji Temple Nara |
As you walk along you’ll see the many halls, the big bell, a sacred place which I have no idea what it is but that reminds me a bit of the Buddhist temples in Cambodia.
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| Toshodaiji Buddhist Temple |
Then you’ll come up to this separate garden with very green colours and a pond where lots of ducks are having fun.
You can get inside the halls but you cannot take pictures so all I can show you is the façade of the halls, I apologise for that.
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| Toshodaiji Temple garden with trees |
Even though it is big in size it does not have a museum so after you look around and you enjoy the amazing colours you leave that and walk for 5 minutes until you get to the other Buddhist temple called Yakushi-ji temple.
Yakushi-ji 薬師寺
The temple is divided in two parts a small part where you’ll need to buy the tickets and then you’ll have to cross the street to go to the bigger and nicer part of the temple.
Let’s start with the first part and smaller one, as you get in you’ll come to a walled temple but first you’ll see this well carved stone with some scripts in I think all Japanese with a typical Buddhist style. It’s hard to explain so better have a look for yourself.
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| Yakushi-ji 薬師寺 entrance |
Once you get inside the walls you’ll see a very beautiful temple that you will walk around. There’s nothing much but sadly as in many Buddhist temples you’re not allowed to take pictures. Once I got off I crossed the street (watch out for the cars from both directions) and went to the bigger part of the temple.
This side is bigger and the halls are very well preserved, I think they were under maintenance not long ago since the colours look to vivid and fresh. Now that I remember one of the Pagodas (there are two) where covered with a net hiding it from the sun I think.
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| Yakushi-ji 薬師寺 Panoramic with Pagoda and Golden Hall |
That’s why I can only show you one pagoda because the other one was covered and I seriously didn't find it attractive enough to make it into my SD card.
These part of the Yakushi-ji has many halls and they again use the same colours (although apparently they are different) as in the Shinto shrines – vermillion. Right in the entrance you’ll see two scary and very powerful Buddhist gods standing at each side of the gate. It’s hard to believe that they are made out of wood and that still they keep the same form, the same quality, although the colours are fading away (could be dust, who knows).
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| Yakushiji Temple - Buddhist Guards - Nara |
After looking around and taking pictures of the temple a long way awaited me to get back to the other side of the city where I was supposed to meet my new friend and chef Hisato.
On the way back I found what for me was the most exciting part of my day. I’m not saying the temples weren’t worth visiting but I like to feel that I visited the city and I just visited the tourists part of the town.
I walked the long way back and I saw a very typical end of the street with a wee hill. After that I stopped to eat because it was 14:00 so I entered in this take-away ramen shop called “Shabaton ラーメン” (RAMEN)
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I didn’t know that you don’t have anyone to help you out, instead you’ve got a sort of vending machine where you can place your order. You just need to enter the code of the dish you want and then the people bring it to you. Quick and efficient – if only of course you know how this system works beforehand. That was not my case, so I was waiting and looking around until this girl came to help me out. She was very kind and helpful telling me what to do.
Then I when to the toilet and I left all my stuff on the table (yes, including my camera and my iPhone) and I think I was a bit naïve, but once again my stuff where there when I came back from the toilet. Only I Japan I believe.
I ordered a typical pork ramen and a portion of gyozas – delicious stuff – even though the place didn’t look like quite the typical new, very tidy Japanese place, it was very clean and the only smell you could get was that of the kitchen.
Sorry my friends but I’m going to own you a picture of the gyozas, but here’s one of the ramen.
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| 無鉄砲しゃばとん-shobaton-nara |
I noticed that it might be because of my relaxed style of life (I live and work in Malta) I took my time to eat and digest and enjoy the food. Most of the people who got there didn’t last more than 15 mins on the table, “if they sat on the table”. I noticed that most of the people who visited the place were not wealthy people, instead they were builders, motorbike riders.
Once I was done, I left them some tip I’m not used to leaving tips but these people or at least the girl and the chef cooking the ramen deserved it. And here’s a funny anecdote, do you remember what I told about the landlady bowing till the end outside her house in Ise? The girl who help me out, did more less the same, it was not so formal but I was leaving the place and she rushed outside to ask me “oishii?(delicious)” (with a bow) and I said “hai, oishii! (yes, it was delicious)” to what she wanted to make sure once again “hontou?(really)” and I replied “hai, hontou oishii(yes, really it was delicious)” I wish I could speak a bit more
Japanese and talk more with her. I don’t know if she’s still working there but what a nice experience that was.
So now I was walking eastbound back to the Nara centre and I was going to meet my new friend but in order to get there I had to walk 6 kilometres so that ramen and the gyozas were to be a nice energy boost to walk the long way.
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Temperature was perfect and the sun was not that bad. The first thing I came across was this big intersection of roads coming from north, south, east and west. Very busy road but anyway I left that behind and now I went through this another road. The next think I managed to get a picture of was the fire-fighter headquarters. Nobody was around but they had everything ready in case of an emergency and by some reason a flashback of what happened during the last Tsunami came to my mind.
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| Fire fighters in West Nara |
Then I carried on and I was thirsty so I was wondering where I could get something to drink and heaven appeared in front of my eyes a デパート a Department Store. If you’ve been to the US or Canada before you know about TARGET and this place looked and felt exactly the same as the American counterpart. First, I thought you can only find it in Nara but later on during my trip I stumbled upon the same department store in other cities. Since, I was there and I saw that the people weren’t exactly wearing the bet clothes and I was running out of clean pants(underwear) I went on to buy some from the shop and I still got them so they weren’t that bad. The funny thing is that the size is XXL but well…
Moving on I was at that point half way from where I needed to be but I was ok in time so I decided to enjoy the surroundings of Nara. I seriously wondered how many tourists might have come around those places before, since everyone who looked me seemed puzzled. Kilometer after kilometre I found this astonishing view of the green bush and the roof top of a Japanese house. I do like those things and I had my house in Japanese it’d need to have one of those and since I’m not Japanese I’ll have to make it up.
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| japanese style roof top - Nara |
However, not everything was going to be beautiful places like this one I just left behind because at one point I saw this rather unusual landscape of a very poor street where everything looked old and rust. It looked like whoever families were living there, they didn’t have money or just didn’t want to invest on this.
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| The other side of Nara |
Of course that moment of the day came, yes indeed, I got lost but once again a lady helped me out to get back on track and once I got back on track eastbound I saw this old lady walking along the street. She wasn’t fast and the street was very narrow but she didn’t care at all and she kept walking as nothing was going to happen to her. Guessing by her age, she must have live the last part of the WWII so this peaceful but hard times must have been nothing to her.
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| Old Lady in Nara |
As I was getting closer to my point I saw this unexpected moment of a young couple wearing a kimono and walking on the street. I reckon this not unusual for Japanese people but for me it was so I had to take a picture and stare at the beautiful colours.
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| Some couples just like the typical Japanese style in Nara |
Finally, the end of the journey, I got to the café where my friend works as a chef and this was funny indeed. I guess my friend was not expecting me at all. I was sweating because I was tired of hanging the jacket and well when I got the café I didn’t look exactly like a customer but rather like a robber or a homeless person LOL.
Not really I’m exaggerating a bit but that’s what the customers faces made me think of. So there he was, the man was cooking something and all the girls on the shop were like crazy and talking and asking him who I was, and whatnot. I felt like a rock-star for 30 mins. It was funny the people there were very helpful and I had to wait a bit for Hisato to finish what he was doing.
Then he came and told me what to order and we took a picture.
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| me and Hisato in Nara |
I ate all the things he told me to try and then when I was about to leave I saw that he came to say good-bye and brought a bag with him. He kindly gave me a bag with gifts. It was delicious. The place is indeed a nice one to seat and chill-out or just to have a business chat like some people were doing.
The cakes, cookies, sponge cakes, the green tea – everything is delicious and even though it is a bit over the price I highly recommend it to you if you’re looking for a change.
My recommendation is to try the weird cake with merengue in the middle pastry. It is very soft and the sugar is quite balanced so you can easily have two if you want.
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| Hisato showing me the best things - like he said "all is good" |
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| 空気ケーキ-奈良 |
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| cake 空気ケーキ-奈良 |
After all the nice time in the café it was time for me to go back and get ready for tomorrow early train to the west part of the country Okayama. However, when I went to the hostel the Kiwi girl and the Scottish teacher invited to eat okonomiyaki nearby in a place that was highly recommended by the owner of the hostel.
It was kinda late and I had all those cakes in my stomach I seriously didn’t feel like eating but when we got to the okonomiyaki place and we saw the tiny place attended by this lovely old lady – I couldn’t resist.
I said this place is either too bad or too good – luckily it was amazing. I said amazing because the companion was good, the teachers and lately an American dude also joined us proved to be great. We started talking to get to know each other. The teachers had been living in Japan for 2 years ( I was so jealous) and the American bloke was studying at the Tokyo university.
Then the lady came with the okonomiyaki mix and WOW our eyes couldn’t believe what was in front of us. Enourmous okonomiyakis! I asked for a fish okonomiyaki and the girls beef okonomiyaki and the American bloke pork one. All of them were delicious; seriously this place is top when it comes to food.
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| finished okonomiyaki in Nara |
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| Beef Okonomiyaki on one the left and mine of fish on the right |
Some people say that all good things come in small sizes and it’s true. This restaurant was very small hidden in a narrow alley next to the Arcade some 10 mins away from the hostel in Naramachi. If you’re going in the evening it’ll be hard to find but I’m sure you’ll find it.
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After we ate our ononomiyaki an old couple came and we all started talking to each other. It ended up being like a nice family meeting, the restaurant owner has travelled everywhere and she spoke a bit of English too but as most Japanese she was ashamed of speaking out loud . Anyway, the two teachers spoke fluent Japanese so we had translators haha.
The old couple ended up being the first customers they had back forty something years ago according to them. The owner started laughing when she said “I saw met them before they got together as a couple, imagine how old they are and how old I am hahah” We couldn’t help it but cracked up instantly.
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| Roz, John, me, Emma and the lovely owner |
After sometime the lady disappear so we and couple kept talking and suddenly out of the blue the lady appeared with soup!!! LOL we were stuffed – the American bloke and the Scottish girl gave us their portions of okonomiyaki because they couldn’t finish it. It was funny indeed and now ramen! Oh well!
We thanked for everything and the excellent service as well as the delicious food and time we spent there and we left the place and boy it was cold – I reckon the temperature dropped some 6 degrees in a matter of an hour – quite a drop.
So my day finishes and the next day I was going to catch my train so Okayama here I come!
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