Nara: Japan's first permanent capital

With Kyoto as our base, we went on a day trip to Nara, Japan’s first permanent capital (710 to 785). Nara was only the capital for a mere 75 years—a horny priest seduced an empress and almost usurped the throne— before the capital was moved to Kyoto.

Nara has a small town air to it, and we spent most of the time walking around a large park with temples. Among other things, we visited the Daibatsu-den Hall, the biggest wooden building in the world. The present building, which was rebuilt in 1709, is only two-thirds of the size of the original.

The Daibatsu-den Hall contains one of the largest bronze figures in the world, the Daibatsu (Great Buddha).

Apart from temples, the park also has a large number of wild deer. Since the deer are wild, there were signs warning people that these animals could attack.

You could buy deer biscuits to feed the deer, but that did not seem like a very good idea at all. Unless, of course, you want to risk being bitten or attacked by these animals.

Just watch what happens to the girls who fed the deer in Nara in these videos:

Deer bites girl

Persistent deer follow girl

Best to leave the wild ones alone.