I was nervous that a rainy day might not be worth visiting Nara, but Seika’s parents lent me an umbrella and a hand warmer and said that I would still enjoy it. They were right, of course.

Nara is around an hour of train travel away from Osaka. I took a series of trains, and the final train in my journey that led to Nara was deer themed and so kawaii!!!

Nara deer

Nara is famous for their wild deer.

They are considered sacred. The deer can be a bit aggressive if you have food, but otherwise they are seemingly harmless.

The antlers are cut off the males, so there is no chance of getting impaled, thankfully.

I took a few pictures and videos with the deer. I also bought the deer crackers, shika senbei, to feed them. They are nutritionally balanced, so it’s good food for the deer.

The deer will bow at you; apparently this is a learned behavior because they have been taught that they are more likely to receive food when being greeted with a bow.

Mochi

There is a shop where you can see men making mochi from scratch, Nakatanidou (中谷堂), but it was closed today. I think the owners were taking a day off because of the rain, but either way it’s ok. As a tourist, I would have loved to see it, but as a person who values balance and happiness, I understand closing the shop for a day off. I would just have to enjoy mochi somewhere else.

Luckily I found this restaurant that served an entire course of different types of mochi. I ordered it and didn’t realize the size. My order included 9 different types of mochi decorated with different ingredients, like salmon egg, beans, beef and onion, etc. A mochi even came in my soup. The mochi were fresh and very sticky.

I made the mistake of trying to eat the first one whole. It was quite a battle. Apparently older people sometimes choke on mochi. It is sticky and can restrict your airway. It is recommended to eat in smaller pieces, so after my first huge mochi bite, I definitely ate them in 2 or 3 bites. Once they cool down, they are less sticky as well.

I was overwhelmed by the number of mochi in front of me, but also determined to eat all the mochi because I wanted to be dine authentically Japanese and finish all my food. (Anytime I am eating something brave or perhaps have filled my plate a bit too much, Seika has kindly offered to help me finish the food if I needed help.) So far, I have done well. I finished all 9 mochi, but I was not able to finish my soup mochi.

Mochi is eaten year round, and it is a traditional food for New Year’s.

Tōdai-ji (東大寺)

Tōdai-ji (東大寺), this Buddhist temple is one of the worlds largest wooden structures, and it contains the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha.

In one of the pillars, there is a hole carved to the same size as one of the nostrils of Buddha! If you crawl through it successfully, you are supposedly granted enlightenment in the next life. Small children and petite adults tried, and the rest of us watched and cheered them on.

At Tōdai-ji, I got my fortune. It is not a good fortune, but the unlucky ones are actually rare, so perhaps getting bad luck is actually good luck! Seika’s dad one time received 3 of the same bad fortunes in a row, but didn’t have bad luck. He kept trying for a better fortune, but kept getting the same bad luck fortune.

Here’s my luck:

After a short, but full, day in Nara, I hurried home for Japanese barbecue with the family.