Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

1/4/2006, Linn trip: Day trip to Nara with Akemi

Linn, Akemi, and I made a day trip out to Nara.  Nara is a very historic city about an hour east of Osaka.  This time, we skipped the ancient giant statue of Buddha, in favor of a stroll through the town and Nara Park.

Akemi and me on the train.

In the city/town of Nara.

Men bashing some rice flower to make sweets.

Men bashing some rice flower to make sweets.

Men bashing some rice flower to make sweets.

Sweets made by the strong men.

Linn and me trying to cope with the Japanese style sitting in a restaurant.

Sukiyaki for lunch.

The bathroom was interesting.

Salt and rice next to the sink.

It was also rather pretty.

Pretty bathroom.

A big pond in Nara Park.

Nara Park is well-known for these deer.

The Pagodas are probably jealous of the attention the deer get.

The deer are everywhere.

They are very docile.

Dear, dear deer.

Corner of a building in Nara Park.

These deer are having a snack.

This tourist (me) is having a snack.

The deer behind the tourist would like some of his snack.

Linn is very inventive.

He can make a scary costume out of his regular clothes.

Looking at the side of a building we visited.

Pretty pond.

Being a major tourist town, there are plenty of souvenir shops like this one.

On the way back, Linn stopped in a pachinko parlor just to see what the atmosphere was like.  Very, very, very noisy.

For dinner, on Linn's suggestion, we went for chanko nabe, a traditional stew type food eaten by sumo wrestlers.  Lots of meat and calories in the stuff.

Linn was also taking pictures of the food.

Twas darn tasty.

Akemi and me at dinner.

Dinner.

They had a funny trinket hanging in the bathroom.  I took this picture so we could find out what it was, later on.

Akemi and me at dinner.

Linn took this picture when we got back to Osaka.  It's a huge camera store that is also home to a department store.

<Previous     -     Index     -     Next>