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| At home in Hoshidekan on Oshougatsu |
That did make my visit to Nara more hectic. That, and the fact I only packed for a day trip which meant no spare clothes. At least the note pad, newspaper, and manga will keep me occupied. As for clothes, I decided to go for a Fukubukuro that had a track suit, light jacket, two T-shirts, anklets, and a big bag. A pretty good deal for 5,000 yen.
Getting up after 8:00 wasn`t uexpected but a couple of mistakes working with the trains cost me an hour of sightseeing time in Nara. One just missed train at Okazaki meant missing a close connection to the Shinkansen and Nara trains.
I did meet somebody from Kelowna on the train to Nara. She had with her a Fukubukuro from a supermarket in Kyoto. It turned out to be a good deal for 1,000 yen and included, ironically, Maple syrup flavored cookies.
The trains weren`t too busy from Okazaki to Kyoto but the one to Nara was packed. I initially thought it was for visits to Nara but I was surprised to see most of them get off at Inari. The person from Kelowna told me there was a shrine there that has 10,000 Tori gates leading up a mountain which has a great view of the Kyoto area. Passengers getting off were having problems getting off the platform.
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| Crowd at Nara Park on Oshougatsu | Charms on sale for Oshougatsu | Deer being fed in Nara Park |
There weren't nearly as many going to Nara on the train as it turned out. There were still many people but it felt like a normal tourist day there except about a quarter of the shopping arcade en route to the park was closed and a lot fo the outlying shops were closed including a restaurant the guide book recommended.
The park itself, though, still had a large number of snack booths to make things festive. The line to make first prayers at the Kasuga Taisha Shrine were huge, at least an hour long, so seeing it closely was not within my time frame. That was fine, though because I was mainly there for the atmosphere. It was a relatively mildbright day too. Walking through Nara Park was an excellent way to start the year. Besides, seeing the hundreds of wandering deer get well fed and the Daibutsudan was worth the trip too though, in some ways, I thought the park didn't look very prepped up for the occasion. There also weren`t nearly as many dressed up people (in traditional clothes) as I expected either.
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| Todaiji in Nara Park | Daibutsu statue in Todaiji |
Getting from Nara to Ise took a three-hour train ride that required two transfers. It`s local liners too, and there weren`t many people on them. The trip`s free for me anyways and it would have taken just as much time getting back to Okazaki.
The ryokan has made the trip worth it so far. It`s an 80-year old inn called Hoshidekan, part of the Japanese Inn group. Very Japanese style. The inner courtyard is a Japanese rock garden, the bath has a wooden tub and the rooms are all tatami-floored. How else to spend the end of New Year`s Day than sitting in my room on the tatami floo sipping tea and eating a sweet Ise cracker while writing this journal entry? Pretty good for 5,000 yen for a single, especially during New Year's.
Forgot about dinner though. Usually it`s 1,000 yen but they were preparing something special for New Year`s so I went for it. For 3,000 yen, I got baby clam miso soup, clam, something resembling a sea snail(?), seaweed salad, sashimi, tempura, fish, kamaboko, a chicken and mushroom dish plus rice. Mind you, this place is very health conscious (featuring `macrobiotic organics`) and, I read, vegetarian so the chicken was a bit of a surprise. The only odd thing was the athletic competition on TV that involved such contests as to see who could throw barrels over a wall the highest and who could touch a ball from the furthest away before it reaches to the ground. Japanese TV seems full of these oddball competitions, mental, physical or skill-wise, but they can be entertaining.
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| Hoshidekan (what an 80-year-old ryokan looks like) | Rock garden courtyard in Hoshidekan | Oshougatsu feast at Hoshidekan |
The hallway on the second floor has a section outdoors (it`s roofed) so it`s going to be pretty cool out there tonight. The room provided a yukata to wear for the night and the bath had towels and soap. I was even able to get hold of a toothbrush. I forgot how convenient these places can be if you suddenly decided to crash somewhere for the night. I don't generally make it a habit, and I don't like not having this sort of thing secured before travelling, but maybe this experience will convince me to follow my instincts a little more.