By admin As previously mentioned, I had originally planned to spend two nights in Nara. However, as Lauren and I conducted more research for our trip, we realized that it would be really difficult to cram everything that we wanted to do in Kyoto in just two days, and Nara could easily be done as a day trip from Kyoto. So, I cancelled the very nice-looking hotel in Nara and booked an even nicer hotel in Kyoto.
I had found a two and a half hour guided bike tour of Nara through Airbnb Experiences, and we decided to book the early afternoon (1-3:30) time slot. The trip to Nara Station was a little over an hour between the Kyoto subway and a JR train (at least we got to use our Kyoto IC cards AND our JR passes). Easy peasy.
We were pumped as we watched the weather forecast leading up to our day in Nara. It looked like it would be one of our nicest days in Japan: mostly sunny, with temperatures in the high 60s. Perfect for a bike ride.
Our guide Hiro was amazing even before the tour started. He checked in with us to confirm the time and meeting location, and was always very communicative and responsive. We were the last ones to arrive at the meeting point at Nara Station (we would’ve been early if it weren’t for the bathroom lines). Joining us were a couple from Shanghai, a mother-son duo from Chile and a solo American traveler who was in the process of moving from Melbourne to LA. I told the Chilenos that I had just spent time in Santiago, Patagonia and Easter Island, and that I absolutely loved their country and hoped to return soon. Then I told the Chinese couple that my brother was currently living in Shanghai and that I had fun when I visited him for New Year’s Eve. I didn’t tell them that I didn’t love China as much as Chile (sorry, but it’s true).
Once we had all become acquainted, we were off to pick up our bicycles. Hiro had everything pre-arranged for us, so our bikes were waiting when we arrived at the shop. I got a cute coral-pink one (they all had convenient baskets). After a quick practice loop, we started down the street toward the river. Hiro was terrific at shouting and pointing out all of the turns, so it was easy to follow along. When we reached our first hill, the Chileno mom had a fall, but it was fortunately very minor. Hiro was very attentive with her after that.
One interesting phenomenon we observed en route to the river: it was election season in Japan, so we got to see local politicians campaigning. Lauren and I had observed several cars driving around, packed with people dressed in fluorescent outfits and white gloves, and blaring loud speeches from loudspeakers. We had a number of guesses around what these people were doing, but campaigning was nowhere near the top of that list. Hiro confirmed the actual reality, and seemed confused when the rest of us expressed our surprise at this unique Japanese approach to political advertising. The Chinese couple seemed especially confounded.
Reaching the river, we were greeted with a beautiful view of the cherry trees lining the river in full bloom. Hiro informed us that today and tomorrow were the peak days for the cherry blossoms.
We settled into a spot along the river and Hiro handed us some of the local sushi and roasted (cold) tea. He explained that because Nara is inland, they couldn’t make fresh sushi in the days before modern technology and infrastructure. So, they found a way to preserve the fish by wrapping it in persimmon leaves when transporting from the sea. This enabled the fish to stay fresh for several days at room temperature.
After our little picnic, we cycled along the river a bit longer, snapping pictures along the way. It really felt magical to pedal along the cherry blossoms, wind rushing through my hair and sun shining on my face (don’t worry, I was wearing sunscreen). Eventually we turned around to head toward the park.
Nara Park is famous for its semi-wild deer that people can feed with special deer biscuits purchased in the park. Sure enough, the deer were everywhere when we arrived. However, the park is also home to Todai-ji Temple, a beautiful monument that houses a huge bronze Buddha (it is about 50 feet tall). Culture first, deer later.
Hiro gave us 30 minutes to explore the temple, and then we were all supposed to meet back at our bikes to head into the heart of the park. The Chilenos were over 20 minutes late (I am guessing due to a communication issue, although I had experienced that Chilenos have a different appreciation for punctuality than the Japanese do), so we got a head start feeding the deer while we waited.
And man, those guys were aggressive! I ended up dropping a lot of my crackers on the ground since I didn’t want a deer to bite me. They did bite Hiro’s backpack several times, they bit my jacket, they even bit Lauren’s thigh! Fortunately, it didn’t really hurt her.
We were very entertained with some of the deer that would actually bow before you would feed them. I would duck my head, and then they would follow suit. It was pretty damn cute. At the same time, I had to wonder how healthy this was for animals that are supposed to be wild to be interacting this closely with humans. It did seem a bit questionable, but the Japanese people were really into it, so I decided to just put my concerns aside for the moment and enjoy the cultural phenomenon.
After the park, I was expecting that we would head back to the train station since the tour was only supposed to last 2.5 hours and we had already gone over time. However, Hiro was game to keep going if we were. Okay! We just had to be back in Kyoto for our 8pm dinner reservation.
We rode our bikes up a small hill to the Kasuga-taisha Shrine, which is particularly notable for all of its numerous lanterns.
There were more deer roaming around the shrine, but Hiro had assured us they were calmer than the deer in the park. We were thankful to observe that he was telling the truth. These creatures did come across as more polite, and they would literally bow even though we didn’t have any food to offer them.
Finally, Hiro asked if we were interested in tasting some sake. Checking the train schedule, we still had at least an hour before we needed to get going, so we were definitely in for a drink to cap off our great day. The Chinese couple had to get back to Kyoto, so Hiro led the rest of us to a small bar in the train station (I had noticed that the train stations usually had an extensive selection of food and beverage offerings). We all ordered our own samplers and stood around a bar table, sipping our sake until we finally had to return our bikes and say goodbye to Nara.
