Raju's Wanderings

A trip to Japan would not be complete without visiting Hiroshima, the site of the first human city targeted by a nuclear attack by another group of humans, a sign that humanity had grown truly feral in our tribalism. From Hiroshima, I also went to Miyajima, an island in the Hiroshima Bay. Hiroshima is around 315 kms from Kyoto, about 1 hour 42 minutes by the Shinkansen (bullet train). I just cannot fathom the speeds of Japan's rail network, coming from India. At the end, I gave up thinking of it as a "train" and instead thinking of it as a "plane" that makes it far easier to comprehend distances in familiar terms. The Atomic Dome in Peace Memorial Park. In 1945, the Americans carefully planned which city should be targeted by the atomic bomb. Obviously, the most important part was the amount of death and destruction that could be caused, and so the city should have at least a three mile radius and be reasonably well populated. A second criterion wa...

Nara was once the capital of Japan, during the ancient Nara period (710-794 CE), when the Emperor lived there, before Kyoto. It is around 40 minutes from Kyoto by train, and is a quaint place with more temples and shrines.   This (right side) is the lecture hall at Toshodaiji Temple at Nara. Toshodai-ji Temple at Nara is an 8th century Buddhist temple founded by a Chinese monk Jianzhen The Deer Park at Nara. These deer actually are like goats. They rest and aren't scared of humans. All trace of a wild animal seems to have vanished over generations. The shops near the Deer Park sell crackers for the deer! Tourists buy the crackers, and feed the deer. I didn't care to taste the crackers, because they looked thoroughly unappetizing and I'm not a deer. The gate to another temple - Todai-ji. Buddhism was introduced to the Emperor of Japan in 552 CE by an emissary of the Korean king who presented a gilded bronze statue of Buddha, along with the Buddhist sutra...

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over a thousand years. With over 19 million people in the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe Metropolitan Area, it ranks as the second most populous metropolis still in Japan (Tokyo is the most populous worldwide), just after New York (20.43 million projected 2020). The distance from Tokyo to Kyoto was around 500 kms by the Shinkansen (bullet train). That is slightly less than Hyderabad to Bangalore (576 kms). We did that distance in 2 hours 20 minutes, from station to station. That's slightly better than trying to reach the airport an hour earlier, flying for an hour and then collecting your luggage. The cost is normally around 14,000 Yen (8,500 INR) one way, but if you buy a 7 day Japan Rail Pass (18,000 INR) then you can travel all over Japan using the Bullet trains of Japan Rail for free (excl. some specific trains)! The JR Pass can only be bought outside Japan for 1/2/4 weeks and a sales agent was there in Bangalore. I had a one week pass (excha...