Seeing the Big Guy

Nara, Japan An emperor in the 8th century built a huge temple to house a huge Buddha, which remains the largest bronze Buddha image in the world. After several fires, the current temple was built in 1709, and, while it is only two-thirds the size of the original structure, it is still considered to be the largest wooden structure in the world.

We’re talking big, folks.

Buddha sits 53 feet high and weighs 550 tons, so he does command respect, surrounded by other gods and guards.

The approach to the temple is equally impressive. The Great South Gate is flanked by two very muscular guardians, and then it’s 650 feet further to the actual temple

In a pillar behind the Buddha, there is a small hole which attracts much attention. Popular belief holds that if you can squeeze through the hole, you will be protected from bad things happening in the future. Unfortunately, we didn’t get here early enough in our lives to have any hope of achieving that.

The temple and its surrounding buildings are located in Nara Park, which is famous for its four-legged residents, tame-ish deer who are considered sacred. They roam freely and solicit biscuits which are conveniently for sale throughout the park.

They are small and very grateful for their cookies, bowing in thanks after being fed.

One of them formed a great attachment to us, even though we had no biscuits to offer. As Don was having the usual struggles with conflicting guidebooks, our new friend offered to see if he could help. Lots of back and forth later, Don got fed up when he realized the deer didn’t know any more than we did.

We gave up on the deer and next went to Kofuku-ji, a temple complex that features the Five-Story Pagoda, Japan’s second tallest. Our luck held; it is under renovation until 2031. Book now and avoid the rush.

Smaller temples dot the grounds and provide a very serene atmosphere, as it’s Saturday and the construction workers have the day off.

The real start of our day was a lot more mundane. Don needed some shoe repair, and we were able to get transported by taxi to a gigantic mall, where an actual cobbler had his shop. He needed any hour to do the job, so we browsed the shops while Don was wearing loaner Crocs.

We were drawn to a huge grocery store, busy with weekend shoppers. We didn’t always know what we were looking at, but everything was so nicely packaged!

This mall even had a pet section with puppies and kittens for sale. The complex was packed, so I guess we were in an fairly affluent area. Nice to see how today’s folks live.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the disposition of the Japanese toward Halloween, these pictures of our hotel lobby will give you an idea.

Don’s Food Corner

Now for something completely different: Indian food.

How would the Japanese interpret food for their own tastes? Not too differently from what we know from both New York — and India.

We ordered butter chicken and chickpea masala. Dinner came with a (nice) salad, a couple pieces of tandori chicken and a grilled shish kebob, plus nan and rice. (No where near as good as the cooking of a certain Brooklyn couple we know, but not everyone can reach that standard.)

The biggest surprise is that we weren’t served basmati rice. They brought us some sticky Japanese rice. Also, I thought all of the dishes, including the nan, had a slightly sweet taste.

All in all, however, we thought they did a much better job bringing something authentic from India than what was passed off as Italian food in so-called Italian restaurants.

Earlier in the day when we roamed around the mall waiting for my shoes to be repaired, we stopped at a Burger King for a little refreshment. They were promoting something they called American Smoked Chicken. The photos showed chicken in a state I had never seen before. If that’s what they think we’re eating, fine.

Interestingly, whenever we’ve been served eggs here, they make a big point of giving us ketchup as a condiment. Somewhere, somehow, the word got here that all Americans eat their eggs with ketchup — or as the stuff is labeled in many foreign countries: American salsa.