さよなら日本

Turns out the Imperial Palace wasn't my last sightseeing after all. Two days before I left I met up with Masahiro and we went to Nara together. I had never been to Nara and it was was one of the two places left I hadn't been to in the year I really wanted to see (Ise Shrine being the other) so I was quite happy that even so close to going home I got the chance to go there, espeically with a great friend like Masahiro.

Nara was the old old capital way back before Kyoto was the capital and as such it's filled with lots of history. There are tombs of old emperors around the city as well as one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the world, Todaiji which houses a 15 metre tall wooden Buddha sculpture, and is said to be the oldest wooden building in the world. There are deer everywhere as well just wandering around the and you can feed them these little wafers things which can be bought at basically every shop in the area. They'll bite at your clothes occasionally if they see you have food, but other than that they're quite docile.

We walked around a bit more just taking in some sights and enjoying the times. It was a great way to finish off a fine year in Japan.

























The next day Keiko came over in the evening and I finished up my packing. Up bright and early the next morning, Christoph made us breakfast and then we headed to the airport. My year in Japan had finally reached its end and the year that seemed so long went by so fast.