Osaka and Nara

I had a wonderful weekend last week in Osaka and Nara. I went with Jill and we met up with one of my friends from Wellesley and her friends. We did touristy things in Nara, but not in Osaka. We were really just checking out Osaka for the first time, shopping, and hanging out with some delightful new friends and their pet cat and kitten. I bought an amazing electronic dictionary (Canon G90 complete with a kanji write-in feature!) in the Nipponbashi district of Osaka, which might as well be called THE electronic capital of the world. Picture several Target stores all on one street, but only selling electronics and accessories. Each store had entire floors devoted to just cameras or just computer accessories. Here's a view of the street:

These are the adorable cats cricket and velcro. I took this picture with my cell phone!


NARA
Nara is the birthplace of imperial power in Japan. During the 8th century, Emperor Shomu wanted to demonstrate his power by building a gigantic temple with a gigantic Buddha inside. Nara was nearly bankrupt by the time the temple was finished 15 years later, but it showed the area who was boss. Many sub-temples were built later on, so the entire area is filled with many temples, shrines, and ancient burial grounds. Every January, the grass-burning festival called yamayaki is celebrated nearby the temple. The fire got out of hand a few times and the temple and Buddha were nearly destroyed. That and an earthquake have required the temple and Buddha to be rebuilt a few times. The most recent rebuilding took place in 1709. The temple is called Todai-ji and this is the outside. The entire building is made of wood.

This is the biggest Buddha in the world. More specifically, it depicts Rushana (Dainichi Nyorai), the Cosmic Buddha presiding over all levels of the universe. It's two-thirds its original size.


pic c/o jill:




One of the supporting pillars of the temple has a small tunnel through its base. If you can pass through the tunnel, you're supposedly guaranteed a spot in paradise. As you can see, only kids can really fit through it.