Japan Day 14: Toba and Nara
January 14.
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Today is my last day with Boo and the family, but we're ending it on a high note as finally, we get to enjoy Naked Joe Brunch. Boo and I have discussed the idea if we had a podcast, we'd call it Naked Joe Brunch and we'd talk about anything and everything, as long as tattooing was happening at the same time. Sure tattooing wasn't happening, but waking up in a hot spring is rad.
Toba is a small seaside town that's full of seafood options, and pearls. But before we can really explore the area, we're going to take a cruise around the harbor. It turns out it's pretty much the same price to go on a cruise of the harbor through a tour company, as it is to book a private vessel, so we headed out on our own private vessel to see Toba Bay. The captain of the boat gave us a bag of chips to feed to the birds and we had a blast!
On our arrival back into downtown Toba, we wandered around looking for a nice little place to grab lunch that the little ones would like, aka, no seafood. The one problem is everything in Toba is seafood, except for one little place called Kitchen Takama. It's this little retro looking diner with these old leather seats from what looks like the 60's or 70's. The food looks good, the price is right, and the portions are HUGE. We noticed photos on the wall where it appears that a TV Show filmed here recently, and our best guess is it's one of those shows with people who eat massive portions, because whoa. The best part was this chow was incredible, katsu-don for days.
We snapped a few silly photos in the area while waiting for our train to head back to Nara, and the overall plan was for the family to head back to the house, and me and Boo to head into Nara to see all the cool sites, hopefully before they close.
Nara was the capital of Japan during the well named Nara Period, from AD 710-794, and it's home to two really neat structures: Horyu-ji, and Todai-ji. Horyu-ji is the oldest wooden building in the world, dating back to ~AD 639, and Todai-ji was the largest wooden building in the world until 1998. It's been standing (or rebuilt) since AD 743. The current building was completed in 1709 and is 30% smaller than the original. Current dimensions: 180ft L x 160ft W, and 157ft H. All wood. Yeah, it's huge. The Nandaimon Gate entrance to Todai-ji has two statues of the Nio, or guardians, that are 28 feet tall each.
Unfortunately, we didn't make it into these buildings before they closed, but we were at least able to have a night walk around the complex, and Boo said it was his first time there where it was perfectly quiet, as he's only gone in broad daylight when it's bumping. Boo headed out to a tattoo shop, because he's a working man, and I roamed around the downtown Nara area and Higashimuki Street. I was still pretty full from that massive bowl of food for lunch, so I figured what better time to try Japan McD's then when I'm not actually hungry. Bacon McPork sandwich, please bring back the McRib. Also, Melon Soda, of course.
I swung over to Boo's tattoo shop and made it in time to see him do his very first tattoo in Japan, officially making him an international tattoo artist. We had some fun, shared some laughs, and we were given a ride home by the raddest girl in town. It's been a fun three days with Boo and the family, and I'm gonna miss them, but I'm on the first train out of town in the morning. Good night!
Today is my last day with Boo and the family, but we're ending it on a high note as finally, we get to enjoy Naked Joe Brunch. Boo and I have discussed the idea if we had a podcast, we'd call it Naked Joe Brunch and we'd talk about anything and everything, as long as tattooing was happening at the same time. Sure tattooing wasn't happening, but waking up in a hot spring is rad.
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| Naked Joe Brunch, Toba |
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| Me and my Boo, Toba. |
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| The Boo Crew, Toba. |
Toba is a small seaside town that's full of seafood options, and pearls. But before we can really explore the area, we're going to take a cruise around the harbor. It turns out it's pretty much the same price to go on a cruise of the harbor through a tour company, as it is to book a private vessel, so we headed out on our own private vessel to see Toba Bay. The captain of the boat gave us a bag of chips to feed to the birds and we had a blast!
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| Little tree on little island, Toba Bay. |
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| Bigger trees on bigger island, Toba Bay |
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| When you're feeding seagulls and a Hawk wants in, Toba Bay. |
On our arrival back into downtown Toba, we wandered around looking for a nice little place to grab lunch that the little ones would like, aka, no seafood. The one problem is everything in Toba is seafood, except for one little place called Kitchen Takama. It's this little retro looking diner with these old leather seats from what looks like the 60's or 70's. The food looks good, the price is right, and the portions are HUGE. We noticed photos on the wall where it appears that a TV Show filmed here recently, and our best guess is it's one of those shows with people who eat massive portions, because whoa. The best part was this chow was incredible, katsu-don for days.
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| Me and my giant bowl of Kastu-don, Kitchen Takama, Toba. |
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| So much food, Kastu-don, Kitchen Takama, Toba. |
We snapped a few silly photos in the area while waiting for our train to head back to Nara, and the overall plan was for the family to head back to the house, and me and Boo to head into Nara to see all the cool sites, hopefully before they close.
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| Boo and his new lady, Toba. |
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| Me and my new lady, Toba. |
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| Boo taking an afternoon nap, Toba. |
Nara was the capital of Japan during the well named Nara Period, from AD 710-794, and it's home to two really neat structures: Horyu-ji, and Todai-ji. Horyu-ji is the oldest wooden building in the world, dating back to ~AD 639, and Todai-ji was the largest wooden building in the world until 1998. It's been standing (or rebuilt) since AD 743. The current building was completed in 1709 and is 30% smaller than the original. Current dimensions: 180ft L x 160ft W, and 157ft H. All wood. Yeah, it's huge. The Nandaimon Gate entrance to Todai-ji has two statues of the Nio, or guardians, that are 28 feet tall each.
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| Horyu-ji five storied pagoda, Nara. |
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| Nio, Nandaimon Gate, Nara |
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| Todai-ji, Nara. |
Unfortunately, we didn't make it into these buildings before they closed, but we were at least able to have a night walk around the complex, and Boo said it was his first time there where it was perfectly quiet, as he's only gone in broad daylight when it's bumping. Boo headed out to a tattoo shop, because he's a working man, and I roamed around the downtown Nara area and Higashimuki Street. I was still pretty full from that massive bowl of food for lunch, so I figured what better time to try Japan McD's then when I'm not actually hungry. Bacon McPork sandwich, please bring back the McRib. Also, Melon Soda, of course.
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| Nara deer, just hanging out, Nara. |
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| Bacon McPork, melon soda, fries, Nara. |
I swung over to Boo's tattoo shop and made it in time to see him do his very first tattoo in Japan, officially making him an international tattoo artist. We had some fun, shared some laughs, and we were given a ride home by the raddest girl in town. It's been a fun three days with Boo and the family, and I'm gonna miss them, but I'm on the first train out of town in the morning. Good night!
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| Boo's first Japan tattoo, Nara. |
January 14 by numbers:
- Photos: 242
- Miles walked: 8.1
- Steps: 17085
- Total Calories Burned: 4180
- Bowls of Ramen: 0
-Joe
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