In Kyoto

Well, Nara was a very quaint town that centered around a few Buddhist Temples. The Todojin Temple was very impressive, it is 2/3 the original size but still remains the largest wooden structure in the world. The Buddha in there is big enough that a family of four people could comfortably sit in the palm of his upturned hand, and I'd guess that it was about four stories tall. I lit a candle for my recently deceased grandfather, and left my name and a prayer on a roof tile that will be put in for the reconstuction that will begin once the rainy season ends. Wasn't quite small enough to make it through the lucky hole (you crawl through this hole in one of the wooden coloums and it's good luck, unfortunately my shoulders would not make it through on any dimension). We then traveled around the rest of Nara (about 5k of walking, my daily average exersice) and we went to the oldest buddhist temple in japan, which was supposidly first constructed in 580bc, though I'm not sure if they really meant bc, because I thought that buddhism came to japan a bit later. That temple had some of the most beautiful lotus plants that one could imagine. Now I'm in a hotel in kyoto, and we're going to see the Geisha districts and things of that nature tomorrow. There was a wedding tonight, a lot of drunk japanese people in traditional kimonos and clogs running around. I had yet another japanese girl hit on me, that's a strange endevour to go through. Nothing new or interesting on the pallate, but I do think that my sister and mom are addicted to watching sumo wrestling. After that one day, mom and sarah try to check in and get into the room by 5, because the next round of the yokozuma league is on then. They've even got nicknames for their favorite, and they're completely fixated... the slightest interruption is unexcuseable. But now I'll have something to retort with if they bother me while I'm watching a football game. Anyhow, here in one place for several days, 81-75-771-7111 room 6077 if anyone's intersted. -Jud