Today was a pretty full day, where I actually did quite a lot, for once. I got up early to meet Sam to go to the day center, to give this guy a mix CD I had made for him as a thank-you for the two CDs of classic rock he had given me, as well as to pick up my shoes which I had forgotten, and to just show Sam around and introduce him to everyone. It was nice seeing everyone again, and it felt almost like I had never left. I may not miss it that much now, but I think I will someday.
After that we met up with Noah, got some really good ramen in this part of Kyoto Station I had never even been to before, and then took a train to Nara. It really made me realize that I had barely scratched the surface of what Kyoto has to offer in my month here, and I sort of feel like I wasted it doing nothing. But at least I did get to see the major sights, and go to Nara today.
Anyway, after a relatively long train ride, we made it to Nara, which is beautiful, by the way. The main attraction, though, is the hordes of deer that inhabit the area. We bought some crackers specially made for them and fed them to the deer, which were pretty aggressive. These deer are pretty different from the deer I’m used to on the East Coast–their fur is darker and seems more wild, and they aren’t really afraid of humans at all, they just come right up to you expecting food. I almost got into some kind of dangerous situations, what with them surrounding me and bumping me and nipping at my legs, but it was all really fun. In fact I kind of wanted to do it again haha, but Noah and Sam were kind of over it. I think I sort of became a scene, as the gaijin (foreigner) being attacked by deer, so a bunch of people took pictures of me haha.
Then we went onward to the Daibutsu, which is similar to the one in Kamakura, but inside a huge temple. And when I say huge, I mean huge. This was definitely the biggest temple I’ve ever seen. The Daibutsu is apparently bigger than the one in Kamakura, too. Needless to say, pretty awesome. I definitely want to go back to Nara, maybe on my trip with Vageesha and Jon.
We had to sort of rush back because Noah was going to meet up with Kayla and their friend to have dinner, so Sam and I went to this place called Donguri near the station, which is a chain of okonomiyaki places. Okonomiyaki is this sort of egg-like thing with sauce and vegetables mixed into it, really really good. We were amazed by how nice the place was. To get to the tables, you walk across this floor of glass, underneath which are these nice-looking white stones, and then you get your own little room closed off from the other diners. Really really nice, and good food for the prices. Personally I prefer when you aren’t in a closed-off room–I like drunkenly talking to the groups next to me–but it was really good talking to Sam, which I had really never done before then. Truthfully, during the trip today it was a lot of Noah and Sam talking, sounding pretty intelligent, and me feeling not-very-smart and not wanting to embarrass myself. But when I talked to Sam, it was perfectly natural and fun. Well, maybe that was because of the great beer, but still.
Anyway, that’s all for today. Enjoy some photos and music.
I’ve been into The Field lately–they have a lot of long, chill songs. This one’s a cover of a Beck song that I love.
My Year In Tokyo 