Bucolic Nara

Today was Bunka no Hi - "Culture Day". As far as I can tell, it has no deep meaning except that you get the day off, which was VERY nice. :) Also, they say that on this day, the weather is always good. That was certainly true today.

A crispness pervaded the air as we pushed off on our bicycles this morning, crossing the border into Nara prefecture and pedaling down the road past the rows of identical housing blocks and mundane businesses that characterize the hill I live on... dry cleaning, dentists, a small post office, a massive religious retreat complex where an obscure Brazilian quasi-Christian cult gathers once a month to drink some hallucinogenic brew and trip for an entire weekend, rice stores, motorcycle repair shops, daycare centers, etc.

At the bottom of the hill we turned onto the long, wooded road towards the ancient site of the Emperor's palace. 1300 years ago, this was the capital of Japan. On the way, we stopped by a small roadside shrine, where we saw a middle-aged woman trotting around two stone posts spaced about three meters apart. The kanji on the posts said something about "a hundred times", but we couldn't determine what the purpose was.



Moving on, we spent a short time basking in the sun atop the modern reconstruction of the main hall of the ancient palace, and then we set off for the giant imperial burial mounds, large keystone-shaped islands surrounded by moats just northeast of the palace site. The burial mounds weren't anything spectacular, but it was quite a pleasant bike ride.



Serendipitously, as we were discussing how much less than interesting the burial mounds were, we discovered a bike path leaving to the north. We followed the small road through miles and miles of wild forest, broken only by the occasional small patch of farmland, the workers in the fields as much a part of the background as the trees in the distance, and the occasional "Beware of Perverts" sign, because, well... this is Japan.



Interestingly enough, we found a number of places where people had dumped garbage along the road... very contrary to the general "squeaky-clean" image of Japan. The thing that blew my mind, though, was that about four kilometers down the bike path we found leading away from the burial mounds, we seemed to have tripped a motion sensor, because a bright light came on overhead, and a speaker mounted on an electric pole squawked a tinny announcement that garbage dumping was illegal and please don't spoil the scenery. Why couldn't they just post a sign saying that? Because this is Japan. :)



Next stop: Dreamland! Not far to the east lies an amusement park called Nara Dreamland. I had never seen it in operation and thus assumed it was long defunct, a Land of dusty and crumbling Dreams. As we neared the park we saw road signs with the word "Dreamland" duct-taped over, and arrived to find all the entry gates chained shut, as I had expected. Later I found out that it had been in operation until the end of this summer, when it closed its gates forever. Had I only known, I could have enjoyed a summer of rollercoaster rides and cotton candy, but no more.



As the sun threateningly positioned itself for a sunset, we flew down the mountain on our bikes, taking only a brief side-trip to see a temple on the way home. Within the temple grounds we found a beautiful Japanese garden, an ancient stone sarcophagus from 1500 years ago, several Heian-era Buddhist statues, three enormous beehives that had been ripped off the side of the temple (and were on display for some reason..?) and several beautiful water lilies being cultivated in plastic tubs. The garish blue plastic clashed horribly with the subtle textures of the Japanese garden and wooden buildings, but when I asked the priests about it, none of them seemed to understand what I meant by "out of place". :P



Avoiding the winding country roads for the ride home, we rocketed down the bicycle path running alongside a major highway, twice passing a strange old man who seemed to be videotaping all the passing trains. They have some strange hobbies in this country. Finding our way home by dead-reckoning in the deepening darkness, it felt like the close of a day. In truth... it was only the beginning, as we needed to make preparations for a Risk and dinner party for the evening. I need to get this blog entry in by 11:59, though, so I can't tell you how it ends.