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12-04-2024, 23:00
Visit the Paul Bailey's Beer Blog site (https://baileysbeerblog.blogspot.com/2024/04/beer-deer-and-cultural-highlights-in.html)
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LastWednesday evening, I was relaxing after a busy few days at work, and sittingdown to watch, what for me is a rare spot of television. The programme I wasabout to watch was the first episode in a new series of Race Around the World. Forthose who might have been asleep, or otherwise missed the previous three series,five pairs of travellers participate in a race that will take themthrough several different countries, although there is a major catch. The pairscannot travel by plane, must leave their smartphones and credit cards behind,and will not have access to the internet. Provided only with the cash equivalent of their airfare from their starting destination to the finishing line, theymust find innovative ways to manage their budget and conduct their journey. Ifthe pairs run out of money, they must earn some more to continue the journey,and they must also pass through a number of checkpoints along the way.
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Series 4 (Season4, for American readers), saw the pairs starting in Sapporo, capital ofHokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, on the first leg of an epicjourney that will eventually take them to Indonesia. Their destination at theend of this first leg is the resort city of Nara, a short distance from Kyoto,in the south of the country. The mentionof Nara, with its attractive deer park, and numerous historic temples, broughtback pleasant memories for me, as this was the town that I visited, with a colleague,at the end of a business trip to Japan. That was in May 2013, so almost 11years ago. But on the last day of what was quite an intense week-long visit, itwas good to escape the hustle and bustle of Kyoto and take the short (50minutes) train trip to Nara.
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Regularreaders of this blog will be aware that the company I work for - part-time,now, is Japanese owned, and whilst there are obviously quite strong linksbetween us and Japan, we operate with a fair degree of autonomy. I’m not 100%sure how the idea for the visit came about, but whatever the reason I jumped atthe chance when it was offered. I travelled out with Marielle, our OperationsManager who is originally from France. With no direct flights between the UKand Kyoto, we had to change enroute. Several options were available, but wewent with Dutch national carrier, KLM, which meant changing flights atAmsterdam Schiphol.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKj5cWEb3GK-QKuppDE3pOmIfHaWbKPmM1ORWyPCFCxsr9i3BmlHoHSbBomohH YbtqCj8b4P-oDOiCK-ndNScE5P9OXLetTF8VtYZYt6bR7FJAquXhChHagAUn0DTZ7TyI 3fLTCodZ5-iiZfa3PxtDAEI_Uc6YpEgiqQ0v5G6OJrjMyFUh3wH5Av8glI/w400-h240/IMAG0155.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKj5cWEb3GK-QKuppDE3pOmIfHaWbKPmM1ORWyPCFCxsr9i3BmlHoHSbBomohH YbtqCj8b4P-oDOiCK-ndNScE5P9OXLetTF8VtYZYt6bR7FJAquXhChHagAUn0DTZ7TyI 3fLTCodZ5-iiZfa3PxtDAEI_Uc6YpEgiqQ0v5G6OJrjMyFUh3wH5Av8glI/s2592/IMAG0155.jpg)
We werewell looked after by our Japanese hosts, and we both came away having learned alot about how the parent company operates. My sphere of interest was qualitycontrol and product testing, whilst my colleague’s specialty was automation of productionand packing operations. I’m not quite sure what prompted us to visit Nara, but itprobably came about after a senior colleague from the UK joined us, towards theend of the week. On the Saturday evening, the three of us went out for dinner,and as this was our first evening without our Japanese hosts,we decided to choose a European style restaurant, rather than a more locallythemed one.
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Our choice for the evening was the Beer Restaurant,located in the basement of a tower block, just outside Kyoto’s sprawling centralstation. Unashamedly styled on a Bavarian Beer Hall, the Beer Restaurant serveddraught Löwenbräu, bottled Export Bass plus a couple of bottledBelgian beers, but as we were in Japan, I decided to stay local and optedfor a mug of Asahi Kuronama. Described as Japan’s favourite dark beer, this distinct,rich, and ultra smooth beer, is brewed from a blend of dark, crystal and Munichmalts. It was very good, and slipped down a treat, so much so that I ended up over-indulgingand knocked back three "medium" sized mugs of this excellent beer.
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Fortunately, the following day was our final one inthe country and was reserved for sight-seeing rather than business. Ourrecently arrived colleague Barry, wanted to do his own thing, but if we wantedsomewhere close by to visit, he recommended the of Nara, which is home to alarge number of impressive shrines, temples, and other World Heritage sites. Having done our present and souvenir shoppingearlier that day with our Japanese colleagues, a spot of culture, plus anescape from the metropolis, seemed a good idea, which is why Marielle and Ifound ourselves on Kyoto station the following morning, waiting for a train to Nara.
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There are two main rail stations in the town, both called Nara,but are distinguished by the train lines they serve: JR (Japan Railways) andKintetsu. Whilst this can be a little confusing for first-time visitors, the twostations are only a 15-minute walk from each other. We travelled with the JRservice, primarily because we had been given a complimentary JR rail pass(basically a Japanese version of an Oyster Card), when we booked our returnticket from and back to Kansai Airport, when we first arrived in the country. Thissystem where separate rail companies run their own separate trains on their ownrail tracks, was what John Major envisaged, when he carried out his flawedprivatisation of British Rail, between 1994-97, although things didn’t quite turnout the way he planned.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7H-QdohjSpjpkGJ8eTSHLEte1UA1WjQQ_va9-41dashjY7w0wUJVBE-oczUU2ENaWmkQ9BvSNPNICG9P1VRxOJpe-HLFyPJ1wGpd5lImnuFLjBlYyZYSSIpz7MU925WpMxlnTZdIkBl C6tbqk-jXMih3EPCNCcyUsnLKt4D9IIkUXpqpViiVafFN-1U/w400-h240/Deer.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7H-QdohjSpjpkGJ8eTSHLEte1UA1WjQQ_va9-41dashjY7w0wUJVBE-oczUU2ENaWmkQ9BvSNPNICG9P1VRxOJpe-HLFyPJ1wGpd5lImnuFLjBlYyZYSSIpz7MU925WpMxlnTZdIkBl C6tbqk-jXMih3EPCNCcyUsnLKt4D9IIkUXpqpViiVafFN-1U/s2592/Deer.jpg)
I digress,we had a pleasant journey through the Japanese countryside, and despite feelingrather hungover from the excess Asahi Dark I’d consumed the previous evening, Ienjoyed the ride. My colleague was feeling fine, after restricting herself towine in the Beer Restaurant, so I allowed her to take the lead when it came to navigating our way around the town. Our colleague Barry had told us that the majority of Nara’stemples, and other attractions were located either in, or close to the largedeer park sited at the top of the hill, overlooking the town, so after pickingup a map from the station, that is where we headed.
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There was adefinite “resort” feeling about Nara, as we stepped out of the station, and headedtowards the deer park, the whole town felt less hurried, less busy and seemedvirtually traffic free. The air too, felt cleaner and fresher – probably due tothe town’s location amongst the hills and forests of southern Japan. Thethumping in my head was starting to subside, and apart from a thirst, cured bydrinking copious amounts of water, I was starting to feel much more human thanI did when I crawled out of bed that morning.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6caN3-89vzu1CnHX1SfEBWURZcjvBtWImzMqv2cg9Bwwks2C3udKOHh7 7iIOylPQEUQgeQDSObDCl8vn7Q2CTg8ehHJlva04p-zZdabRRiuSFn89b60OzCBvVE3kNaFSDJUGzhXL9vv9zNDgCYZA-PkVQ7noMSywlFHhbFCvcEkuH-48SKMBQflmtv_I/w400-h240/Deer%20close%20up.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6caN3-89vzu1CnHX1SfEBWURZcjvBtWImzMqv2cg9Bwwks2C3udKOHh7 7iIOylPQEUQgeQDSObDCl8vn7Q2CTg8ehHJlva04p-zZdabRRiuSFn89b60OzCBvVE3kNaFSDJUGzhXL9vv9zNDgCYZA-PkVQ7noMSywlFHhbFCvcEkuH-48SKMBQflmtv_I/s2592/Deer%20close%20up.jpg)
Nara Park is a large park in central Nara,and is the location of many of the town's main attractions including Todaiji (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4100.html),KasugaTaisha (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4102.html), Kofukuji (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4101.html) and the NaraNational Museum (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4109.html). It is also home to hundreds of freely roaming deer.Considered the messengers of the gods, the deer have become a symbol of thecity. "Deer crackers" are for sale aroundthe park, and some deer have learned to bow to visitors to ask to be fed.Nara's deer are surprisingly tame, although they can be aggressive if theythink people are about to feed them, so visitors should not try teasing themteasing them with food.
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I won’tdetail all the temples we saw because a) I can’t remember them all, b) theywouldn’t mean much to those who haven’t visited Nara, and c) there were toomany of them, but the one that really stood out, and attracted the largestcrowds, was Todaiji the "Great Eastern Temple.” This isone of Japan's most famous and historically significant templesand a landmark of Nara. Todaiji's main hall, the Daibutsuden(Big Buddha Hall), is one of the world's largest wooden building, and housesone of Japan's largest bronze statues of the Buddha (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2055.html),which stands at 15 metres tall.
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There were also many well laid out, and attractivegardens, and creating these serene and relaxing spaces, is something the Japaneseexcel at. Nara Park was teaming with visitors that day, including organisedschool parties, plus many other visitors, mainly Japanese, but there were some Europeanfaces amongst them. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiO1I4KiIHwddEVC3Blj2WHKgi6kRIBSQsnmh9mK_U-ceWRvMEkZARy_vDYRQ9AbzU8fmPOuIGb8FIx57qUGn_DBT6848 Hm8ye9vov8UftpYmUR37lhEYLl9kxj2xVaBm5JkR-S-d7OxTSpRVSUd32O-ZX8RizaSZFgUAb2GNXfvu3KinVZFrc5a0NGM/w400-h240/Kasuga%20Stone%20Lanterns.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiO1I4KiIHwddEVC3Blj2WHKgi6kRIBSQsnmh9mK_U-ceWRvMEkZARy_vDYRQ9AbzU8fmPOuIGb8FIx57qUGn_DBT6848 Hm8ye9vov8UftpYmUR37lhEYLl9kxj2xVaBm5JkR-S-d7OxTSpRVSUd32O-ZX8RizaSZFgUAb2GNXfvu3KinVZFrc5a0NGM/s2592/Kasuga%20Stone%20Lanterns.jpg)As we made our way towards one of the exits to the park, wechanced upon a traditional Japanese wedding taking place. This was at Kasuga-Taisha,a Shinto shrine, famous for its lanterns.
These have been donated by worshipers, and hundreds of bronze lanterns can be found hanging from thebuildings, while numerous stone lanterns line its approaches.
Upon leaving the park, we made our way back to Nara JR station,for the train back to Kyoto. It had been a fascinating day out, and a fittingend of our visit to the Land of the Rising Sun.
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LastWednesday evening, I was relaxing after a busy few days at work, and sittingdown to watch, what for me is a rare spot of television. The programme I wasabout to watch was the first episode in a new series of Race Around the World. Forthose who might have been asleep, or otherwise missed the previous three series,five pairs of travellers participate in a race that will take themthrough several different countries, although there is a major catch. The pairscannot travel by plane, must leave their smartphones and credit cards behind,and will not have access to the internet. Provided only with the cash equivalent of their airfare from their starting destination to the finishing line, theymust find innovative ways to manage their budget and conduct their journey. Ifthe pairs run out of money, they must earn some more to continue the journey,and they must also pass through a number of checkpoints along the way.
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Series 4 (Season4, for American readers), saw the pairs starting in Sapporo, capital ofHokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, on the first leg of an epicjourney that will eventually take them to Indonesia. Their destination at theend of this first leg is the resort city of Nara, a short distance from Kyoto,in the south of the country. The mentionof Nara, with its attractive deer park, and numerous historic temples, broughtback pleasant memories for me, as this was the town that I visited, with a colleague,at the end of a business trip to Japan. That was in May 2013, so almost 11years ago. But on the last day of what was quite an intense week-long visit, itwas good to escape the hustle and bustle of Kyoto and take the short (50minutes) train trip to Nara.
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Regularreaders of this blog will be aware that the company I work for - part-time,now, is Japanese owned, and whilst there are obviously quite strong linksbetween us and Japan, we operate with a fair degree of autonomy. I’m not 100%sure how the idea for the visit came about, but whatever the reason I jumped atthe chance when it was offered. I travelled out with Marielle, our OperationsManager who is originally from France. With no direct flights between the UKand Kyoto, we had to change enroute. Several options were available, but wewent with Dutch national carrier, KLM, which meant changing flights atAmsterdam Schiphol.
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We werewell looked after by our Japanese hosts, and we both came away having learned alot about how the parent company operates. My sphere of interest was qualitycontrol and product testing, whilst my colleague’s specialty was automation of productionand packing operations. I’m not quite sure what prompted us to visit Nara, but itprobably came about after a senior colleague from the UK joined us, towards theend of the week. On the Saturday evening, the three of us went out for dinner,and as this was our first evening without our Japanese hosts,we decided to choose a European style restaurant, rather than a more locallythemed one.
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Our choice for the evening was the Beer Restaurant,located in the basement of a tower block, just outside Kyoto’s sprawling centralstation. Unashamedly styled on a Bavarian Beer Hall, the Beer Restaurant serveddraught Löwenbräu, bottled Export Bass plus a couple of bottledBelgian beers, but as we were in Japan, I decided to stay local and optedfor a mug of Asahi Kuronama. Described as Japan’s favourite dark beer, this distinct,rich, and ultra smooth beer, is brewed from a blend of dark, crystal and Munichmalts. It was very good, and slipped down a treat, so much so that I ended up over-indulgingand knocked back three "medium" sized mugs of this excellent beer.
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Fortunately, the following day was our final one inthe country and was reserved for sight-seeing rather than business. Ourrecently arrived colleague Barry, wanted to do his own thing, but if we wantedsomewhere close by to visit, he recommended the of Nara, which is home to alarge number of impressive shrines, temples, and other World Heritage sites. Having done our present and souvenir shoppingearlier that day with our Japanese colleagues, a spot of culture, plus anescape from the metropolis, seemed a good idea, which is why Marielle and Ifound ourselves on Kyoto station the following morning, waiting for a train to Nara.
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There are two main rail stations in the town, both called Nara,but are distinguished by the train lines they serve: JR (Japan Railways) andKintetsu. Whilst this can be a little confusing for first-time visitors, the twostations are only a 15-minute walk from each other. We travelled with the JRservice, primarily because we had been given a complimentary JR rail pass(basically a Japanese version of an Oyster Card), when we booked our returnticket from and back to Kansai Airport, when we first arrived in the country. Thissystem where separate rail companies run their own separate trains on their ownrail tracks, was what John Major envisaged, when he carried out his flawedprivatisation of British Rail, between 1994-97, although things didn’t quite turnout the way he planned.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7H-QdohjSpjpkGJ8eTSHLEte1UA1WjQQ_va9-41dashjY7w0wUJVBE-oczUU2ENaWmkQ9BvSNPNICG9P1VRxOJpe-HLFyPJ1wGpd5lImnuFLjBlYyZYSSIpz7MU925WpMxlnTZdIkBl C6tbqk-jXMih3EPCNCcyUsnLKt4D9IIkUXpqpViiVafFN-1U/w400-h240/Deer.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7H-QdohjSpjpkGJ8eTSHLEte1UA1WjQQ_va9-41dashjY7w0wUJVBE-oczUU2ENaWmkQ9BvSNPNICG9P1VRxOJpe-HLFyPJ1wGpd5lImnuFLjBlYyZYSSIpz7MU925WpMxlnTZdIkBl C6tbqk-jXMih3EPCNCcyUsnLKt4D9IIkUXpqpViiVafFN-1U/s2592/Deer.jpg)
I digress,we had a pleasant journey through the Japanese countryside, and despite feelingrather hungover from the excess Asahi Dark I’d consumed the previous evening, Ienjoyed the ride. My colleague was feeling fine, after restricting herself towine in the Beer Restaurant, so I allowed her to take the lead when it came to navigating our way around the town. Our colleague Barry had told us that the majority of Nara’stemples, and other attractions were located either in, or close to the largedeer park sited at the top of the hill, overlooking the town, so after pickingup a map from the station, that is where we headed.
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There was adefinite “resort” feeling about Nara, as we stepped out of the station, and headedtowards the deer park, the whole town felt less hurried, less busy and seemedvirtually traffic free. The air too, felt cleaner and fresher – probably due tothe town’s location amongst the hills and forests of southern Japan. Thethumping in my head was starting to subside, and apart from a thirst, cured bydrinking copious amounts of water, I was starting to feel much more human thanI did when I crawled out of bed that morning.
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Nara Park is a large park in central Nara,and is the location of many of the town's main attractions including Todaiji (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4100.html),KasugaTaisha (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4102.html), Kofukuji (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4101.html) and the NaraNational Museum (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4109.html). It is also home to hundreds of freely roaming deer.Considered the messengers of the gods, the deer have become a symbol of thecity. "Deer crackers" are for sale aroundthe park, and some deer have learned to bow to visitors to ask to be fed.Nara's deer are surprisingly tame, although they can be aggressive if theythink people are about to feed them, so visitors should not try teasing themteasing them with food.
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I won’tdetail all the temples we saw because a) I can’t remember them all, b) theywouldn’t mean much to those who haven’t visited Nara, and c) there were toomany of them, but the one that really stood out, and attracted the largestcrowds, was Todaiji the "Great Eastern Temple.” This isone of Japan's most famous and historically significant templesand a landmark of Nara. Todaiji's main hall, the Daibutsuden(Big Buddha Hall), is one of the world's largest wooden building, and housesone of Japan's largest bronze statues of the Buddha (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2055.html),which stands at 15 metres tall.
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There were also many well laid out, and attractivegardens, and creating these serene and relaxing spaces, is something the Japaneseexcel at. Nara Park was teaming with visitors that day, including organisedschool parties, plus many other visitors, mainly Japanese, but there were some Europeanfaces amongst them. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiO1I4KiIHwddEVC3Blj2WHKgi6kRIBSQsnmh9mK_U-ceWRvMEkZARy_vDYRQ9AbzU8fmPOuIGb8FIx57qUGn_DBT6848 Hm8ye9vov8UftpYmUR37lhEYLl9kxj2xVaBm5JkR-S-d7OxTSpRVSUd32O-ZX8RizaSZFgUAb2GNXfvu3KinVZFrc5a0NGM/w400-h240/Kasuga%20Stone%20Lanterns.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiO1I4KiIHwddEVC3Blj2WHKgi6kRIBSQsnmh9mK_U-ceWRvMEkZARy_vDYRQ9AbzU8fmPOuIGb8FIx57qUGn_DBT6848 Hm8ye9vov8UftpYmUR37lhEYLl9kxj2xVaBm5JkR-S-d7OxTSpRVSUd32O-ZX8RizaSZFgUAb2GNXfvu3KinVZFrc5a0NGM/s2592/Kasuga%20Stone%20Lanterns.jpg)As we made our way towards one of the exits to the park, wechanced upon a traditional Japanese wedding taking place. This was at Kasuga-Taisha,a Shinto shrine, famous for its lanterns.
These have been donated by worshipers, and hundreds of bronze lanterns can be found hanging from thebuildings, while numerous stone lanterns line its approaches.
Upon leaving the park, we made our way back to Nara JR station,for the train back to Kyoto. It had been a fascinating day out, and a fittingend of our visit to the Land of the Rising Sun.
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