Japan - A month later...

I'm finally getting around to posting some of the pictures from Japan. There weren't as many this time, as I spent the first few days recovering from the Aikido seminar in Hong Kong. :)

Delicious hot pot!  One of the many ways I recovered.

One of the outings we did while I was in Japan was to travel to Nara.  Nara was one of the cities I was thinking about visiting the first time I was in Japan, but I ran out of time.  Nara is primarily famous for two things: landmarks (like temples and shrines) and deer.  Lots of deer.  You can see the deer influence in the city mascot.

Just after arriving at Nara station, I was greeted by Sento-kun.
After we made it past the city near the station, Emily and I were soon surrounded by deer after our purchase of deer biscuits (to feed the deer).  Unfortunately the deer flash mob happened so quickly, we didn't get a picture!

On the way to the Kasuga Grand Shrine.  You can see some of the stone lanterns in the picture.  Imagine stone lanterns of varying shapes and sizes lining the path for maybe a quarter mile on the way to...

Kasuga-taisha.  This is a Shinto shrine.  After spending some time here, we headed onto a Buddhist temple.

Emily and I together at Todai-ji.

We did a fair amount of souvenir shopping in Nara as well.  It was a fun trip!  Most of the rest of the time I spent in Japan was for eating.  I went back to the Ramen place I went the first time.  Oh it was so delicious!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I'll be sure to be more mindful of my own camera (and the charger) so I can take more photos next time.  Stay tuned for my trip to China in January!