Nara

Sorry if my formatting is odd. I can`t figure out these Japanese keyboards.

I blog to you from Ryokan Matsumae in Nara. When did I last blog to you? Was it about Osaka? I think so. Our trip is beginning to wind down. Our days have been less eventful and more mellow. We're totally temple and shrined out. After you've seen so many of them your eyes begin to glaze over and they don't seem as impressive anymore. I never thought I'd hear myself saying these things. But don't get me wrong- they are beautiful and we like them very much but there are so many of them. One could spend years seeing all the temples and shrines of Japan.

I never thought I'd hear myself saying I am sick of Japanese food either, but I am. I miss things like salads piled high with fresh, raw colorful vegetables. The salads here are usually doused in some sort of mayonnaise soy dressing and consist of pale shredded cabbage and maybe one pale tomato sliver. I miss cheap fruit- it's so pricey and often low quality here. I miss Middle Eastern food- I'd die for some tahini, hummus, pita, and falafel balls right now. I would like a good coarse loaf of dry wheat bread- the bread here is too fluffy, greasy, and white. I would like a vegan breakfast muffin or blueberry pancakes from the Riverwest Co-op. I want applesauce and a steaming bowl of plain oatmeal. I have no idea what I'm eating half the time since I can't read ingredients or the menu and Japanese people often mistake fish and chicken as vegetarian. We've identified the udon and tofu bowls as safe, but oh god... I just can't eat another bowl of those noodles. We've eaten so many but it's one of the few things we can identify that isn't something weird like pureed salmon roe or raw beef. We're only bird/fish vegetarians now but we eat mostly vegetarian simple foods when we're at home. I just want basic boring vegetarian food right now so badly. No more processed mysterious food please. What I also miss is being able to go to the grocery store or a restaurant and be able to know what it is that I am getting. Everytime we get hungry it feels like such an ordeal to me. We have to walk or bike around until we find a place that seems like it might be English speaker friendly, doesn't cost a gazillion yen, and serves food we might like. I am usually so hungry and desperate that after awhile we just settle for anything. Then we have to figure out what we want, which is often very confusing since we can't read the menu and what looks like tofu in the photograph might turn out to be deep fried pork liver in reality. Then you have to try and order in broken Japanese or point at pictures to tell them what you want. You can't really ask the server questions because they often don't speak English either.

I've discovered an interesting fact about my body while in Japan. I've noticed that I've been having a lot less digestive problems since I've been here. It's because there's little to no dairy in the Japanese diet. I knew I was slightly lactose intolerant, but I didn't know the extent of it until now.

What I am going to miss about Japan is the ingenius design and the transit options like the Shinkansen. The Japanese have so many clever little things that are extremely simple in concept and design, but make so much sense: sliding windows and doors, water efficient toilets, and bike lights powered by the spinning wheels are some I can think of off the top of my head. Speaking of bikes, I am a huge fan of the bikes everyone rides here. We've been renting them cheaply from our hotel/ryokan everyday now and they're just fantastic. The baskets are perfect for holding our bag and the lock is built into the rear wheel. Since they're so ubiquitous you can ride them on the street or sidewalk in any direction you choose with nary a raised eyebrow and unlike at home, you aren't going to get run over by some inattentive driver since bikes outnumber cars. I also love all the shoe rules and rituals since I don't care for people tromping their dirty shoes all over my apartment either.

Anyways...yesterday was spent shopping around Kyoto by day and exploring the city center by night. I wanted to purchase some traditionally Japanese things like a yukata, paper stationery, and a woodblock print. I think I bored my poor fiance to death (ha ha, I have a fiance now) while I dithered endlessly over boring things I find fascinating like handmade pottery and numbered woodblock prints. I feel like I am turning into my Mom. At night we had dinner at a place that the guidebook said had good organic vegetarian American/Japanese fusion food. We ordered two small tapas-like dishes and some sake but it didn't satiate our hunger. The waitress seemed to be too busy to pay attention to us after that so we paid and left. It's hard to get the attention of a person who doesn't speak your language.

After that we found a game arcade and played some games and took some pictures in the photo booth machines. Japanese arcades put American arcades to absolute shame. They have so many crazy games and the players are incredibly good.

Today we took a train to Nara. We expected this place to be a bit smaller and in the countryside, however it's very urban. We checked into our ryokan and rented bikes and rode to the park where all the tame deer are. There are so many of them and they are very cute but naughty. We bought some deer snacks from a vendor and they went crazy. A few began to headbutt me (including one with painful pokey little horns) and one began to eat my shirt. After I gave them all my wafers I ran to get away from them. They all just kind of hang out and amble around the park and remind us a lot of overgrown dogs.

Todaiji Temple is quite impressive- the world's largest wooden structure! It houses Japan's largest Buddha. I was awestruck by the large size of it all. In the back of the temple is a pillar with a small hole. If you can crawl through the hole you achieve instant enlightenment. We both managed to squeeze our massive tall American bodies through it successfully while tiny Japanese women couldn't even get past their chests. Ha!

We're in our ryokan now having a rest. It is a darling little place that has a rather artistic sort of feel to it. The proprietor is quite skilled at woodcarving and his wife is very talented at calligraphy, so it's decorated very beautifully. It is kind of nice to be back in a ryokan after staying in that Western style hotel. I am considering taking an onsen before we head out to the Water Drawing Festival. I have yet to experience a Japanese festival and my curiosity has definitely been piqued by all the posters I've seen around Nara.

Type to you soon,

Haven