Japan: Day 05: More shrines, deer and a big Buddha

We took a bus tour that went to various places in Kyoto and Nara so it was a pretty packed day compared to the previous day… oh, and enjoy the deer without having to smell them.

There’s a lot to see in the Kyoto area and we also wanted to see the stuff in the Nara area but they’re all spread out over a large area, so the only way to really see everything efficiently is to take a bus tour.

Nijo Castle

The first stop is Nijo Castle, a residence of the Shogun which had floors called the “nightingale floors” that had a mechanism that made them squeak when you walk on them. This was done so that people couldn’t simply sneak into the residence and assassinate the Shogun.

Temple of the Golden Pavilion

The next stop took us to see the golden pavilion which is very… gold… and has a funky phoenix statue on top. Also, I saw a duck.

Kyoto Imperial Palace

I ended up noticing a lot of very “Japanese” looking scenery at the Kyoto Imperial Palace… what I mean is that I noticed a lot of imagery I first saw many years ago in anime like Ninja Scroll and other Japanese media, so it was cool seeing that in real life.

Eastern Great Temple

Deer… they were everywhere and people were all over them, it was nuts. But, once you get through the herd of deer and people petting them, you get to the temple and see a whole bunch of big Buddha statues and their guardians.

Kasuga Grand Shrine

Do you like lanterns? If so, this place has A LOT of lanterns, though, it would’ve been cool to see them at a time when they’re all lit.

I didn’t really have much to say in this post since I thought I’d let the images speak for themselves, but in the next entry, there won’t be many pictures at all so I’ll talk more about some of the stuff I saw…