Nara Koen (Nara Park)

Arriving at the newly renovated JR station, I felt that a revitalized tourism campaign was in place for the city. The new station was huge; they even had pillars that feel like the ones from the temples. It even has a new bus station. When I went to Nara before the tourism office was an old lady who sells you a bus pass, gives you a map and points you the bus stop. Now they have 2 tourism offices on both floors, with desk officers that speak fluent English, and even give out Japanese origami spinning tops for the kids. The buses too are very tourists friendly, with TV screen that tells you where to get off and what to see on those stops. It was a breeze navigating through Nara Park, even people manning the stations spoke very good English.

Our first stop was Todaiji or the eastern temple, where you could find Daibutsuden, one of the word's biggest wooden structures. In it you could find Daibutsu or the “great Budha”. The wooden structure was massive and beautiful. It also looks very old which is actually a good thing, as sometimes reconstruction involved using new materials to repair damaged or worn out spots, although it retained its original form, it’s still better to get a real ancient feel. 

Nara Park is famous for its deer, sika (シカ), and by deer, I mean loads of it, roaming around freely all throughout the park. My son enjoyed playing with them so much. So he was well behaved as we checked out the sites with a promise that he gets to play again with them after each site visit. My daughter was also well-behaved, for she was frightened by the deer. She screamed every time a deer came too close to her, although enjoyed viewing them from a distance. My son had a funny way of testing if these creatures are friendly. He touches the rear end first, if the deer remained calm, then he makes his way up to its head. One can buy deer food for 150 yen and experienced being surrounded by deer poking you from all sides. It was fun having to watch my friend, sort of being attacked by these biscuits loving animals. A note of caution these deer can be bit aggressive as they are so used to tourists feeding them. Good thing their hooves were trimmed.

Kofukuji temple should not be missed as it is an important center of Budhism in Japan. Also, a visit to the beautiful Nara museum will surely be enriching.

It was great being at Nara. Adults can experience the sites and the history it provides, while your little ones will be kept entertained by the free roaming deers and the park’s beautiful scenery. Don’t forget to buy your Sento-kun themed souvenirs. A mascot created by Nara City office to represent their prefecture, is a cute and amiable boy with deer antlers. Enjoy your Kansai travels !!!

BUDGET TIP 

The ￥500 day bus pass will come handy if you intent to visit the many different sites at Nara Koen.