Our World

Japan as a nation had its roots in a small area in the central part of the country where its first two capitals Kyoto and Nara can be found. Relatively small cities that had little strategic importance they escaped the devastation of World War II. This resulted in a great concentration of traditional Japanese . The watchword has been that you first visit Tokyo but it is Kyoto that is the heart of Japan. Here we did find the largest number of visitors on the trip. The Japanese who were traveling all seemed to have come here and their numbers were augmented by many school groups on their Spring field trips, fortunately with so many places to visit it was seldom crowded.

Kyoto is a large town that spreads up into the foothills surrounding it. Actually it is in the foothills where many temples are found, but it is in the middle of the modern city where you find the Imperial Palace. Visiting the Imperial Palace can be problematic for those traveling on their own as we did , as it is necessary to make application with the Imperial Household Bureau in order to be booked on one of the guided tours. As only about thirty western visitors showed up that afternoon we had no problem but imagine that under normal circumstances the numbers would be at least ten fold what we encountered. The Palace and the grounds were very impressive and obviously well tended. We wandered the hillsides and downtown area for several days viewing a great number of temples and park areas that definitely supported Kyoto’s position as the Imperial City of Japan.

Throughout Japan we were often plagued by something that we never anticipated having to cope with. Japan is polite, orderly and courteous, except on the sidewalks. It is not the pedestrians but the bicycles that are anything but polite, orderly or courteous. The logic is that it is too dangerous to ride the bicycles on the street but they are safer on the sidewalks. Bikes fly at you from all directions and often at great speed. Only on a few pedestrian shopping streets was there any attempt at control and we found most riders fully expecting you to get out of their way. Could not understand how the Japanese tolerate this situation.

A short train ride east of Kyoto is found Nara which was the original capital of a unified Japan. Nara is renowned for its sights but in every other way is a small town.
Here you can walk out of the train station and find your hotel within minutes. Walk through a small downtown section with its covered pedestrian mall and find yourself being greeted by Nara’s most famous occupants. The deer of Nara have been roaming the parks, temple grounds and the city itself for hundreds of years. Technically they are wildlife and you are warned of all the possible risks you face in meeting them, but when they nuzzle up to you like large dogs it is hard to accept the risk. You are encouraged to “Feed the Deer”-feed them the specially prepared crackers sold throughout the city. Amazingly the deer have learned over generations to bow before the visitor who have crackers to offer and most politely take them from your hand. Though the herd was almost decimated during WWII it now is quite large and given the continuing urbanization of the area it may becoming a problem. This is particularly true in the winter months when park vegetation is sparse and the cracker bearing tourists sparser. The deer roam the downtown area at will and the local authorities can’t do anything very drastic with one of the country’s most treasured symbol. We suspect someday there will be a solution that will be implemented without the public being informed. The Japanese public seems resigned to fact that their government only tells them part of any story. The ever unraveling of the government’s account of the current nuclear crisis seems to support that belief.

As vegetarians we anticipated difficulty in finding food in Japan. Before departing for Japan we had a Japanese friend type us a card explaining that we don’t eat meat or fish so that we could show it in restaurants. The card worked well to a limited extent- it didn’t help us get any food when we showed it but it did allow the restaurant staff to indicate they had nothing for us. The great number of non-Japanese restaurants throughout the country insured that we didn’t starve though. In Nara we did get to eat at a traditional Japanese restaurant as a Japanese woman who had been a student of a friend of ours met us for a day and took us to one. She spent much time discussing our diet with the owner and his wife and we did get some very interesting dishes. Without a doubt this would have never happened without her assistance. In Nara we did find a very unique restaurant. It was a Japanese restaurant that invited you to bring your dog with you to dinner. With their regular menu they had a special menu so that you could order food for your dog. Actually we might have been able to eat off that menu.