Train journey to Nara, the old capital. A little over an hour to get there but nice to see the Japanese countryside.
Packed quite a lot in on the trip as Nara relatively compact and all within walking distance of each other. Won't go into the detail or history as I don't profess to know myself but we visited Tōdai-ji Temple and the giant bronze Buddha. 15 metres high and largest Buddha in the world. Kasuga-Tanisha Shinto shrine is famous for its copper and concrete lanterns. The path to Kasuga Shrine passes through Deer Park. In Deer Park, deer are able to roam freely and are believed to be sacred messengers of the Shinto gods that inhabit the shrine and surrounding mountainous terrain. (Credit Wikipedia for that fact). The deer are Sika deer and it's nice to see them co-existing with the hordes of tourists. Kōfuku-ji is a 5 storied pagoda Buddhist temple. To be honest I'm struggling to separate Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines and understand the different significances. From last Temple/shrine we caught a bus to the train station and then train to Fushimi Imari-taisha Shinto shrine. This is the shrine with the tunnel of red Torii gates which wind up the side of the Inari mountain. Very busy place with what Chiko says are South Koreans in kimono dress that costs $30 a go. Ant remember a great deal more, sorry...