Witch women

I was in Nara until a few hours ago.

I like Nara! It is a city, for sure, but it does not contain the typical towering monoliths every which way and, I dunno, it is a small city. I like small when it comes to cities!

Last night, I met Kira and we ate katsudon (my first time since coming back from Korea!!) and then wandered around for a while. It was late, so everything was closed! Except for food.

But before that, I walked around in Nara Park for a couple hours, and it was nice. I narrowly avoided deer droppings multiple times.

Speaking of deer droppings... The deer in Nara are protected by law. And also a popular tourist attraction. For a mere buck fiddy, one can purchase a bundle of deer snacks from one of many stalls guarded by elderly women. If one chooses to do so, one will be immediately mobbed by a multitude of deer. What is a group of deer called?

I watched in great amusement as various tourists bought deer snacks and then yelped in surprise.

My question is what the hell voodoo magic are those old women using to ward off the deer horde. I suspect they wield those poop-sweeping brooms with deadly accuracy, but I sadly have no evidence to support my theory.

Ahem.

I also visited a temple, of course. It wouldn't be vacation (apparently) if I didn't visit an old cultural premise every day.

At the temple, I took a picture of something when the sign said no pictures. I'm such a rebel! But then I went to the temple's museum, with a half-empty bottle of Coke in hand. I noticed an exceptional number of guards (or what amounts to guards, I suppose) around the place, and because I was trying to find the right time to sneak more pictures, I made note of where they all were. But getting a picture was impossible. After resolving myself to this, I sighed wistfully and opened the bottle for a sip.

The sound of the carbonation escaping drew the ire of a veritable mob of Japanese museum guards. I think the one actually jumped out of his chair!

In true comedic fashion, I stared wide-eyed and nonchalantly put the cap back on. Satisfied, they returned to their stations, and I awkwardly explored the rest of the displays.

Today, however, I went to see Nara's Big Buddha. So now I've seen... Tokyo's, Kyoto's, and Nara's. I am a certifiable Big Buddha Expert. It was nothing special, I gotta say.

I lie, it was pretty spectacular. And big.

But now I am in Hiroshima, and having rested, I will go out and visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Genbaku Dome.