May 16



Today was exciting because it was another day to interact with animals! We went to Kofukuji Temple, Todaiji Temple and Kasuga Grand Shrine. What was unique about these places compared to the other shrines and temples we visited was that there were deer roaming around interacting with humans. In America, deer don’t interact with people at all so it was quite interesting seeing how different they are in Japan. These three places had the largest amount of people, so much so that there was a lot of pushing and worming around through the crowds. There were a lot of school field trips at these places as well. That shows the pride Japan has in their historical sites, and how popular these places are within the education field. I can say whenever I’ve gone on a school field trip, I don’t remember seeing that many schools at the same place.

Kasuga Grand Shrine is so big, no wonder its called Grand. Usually when walking through a shrine or temple, it takes 5-10 minutes, but this one took double that. It just kept going. It had so many unique and beautiful details to it. There were


also many lanterns hanging on the outside of the shrine which made me wonder what it looks like at night. I would love to see a shrine at night, I think it would make the experience so much cooler than it already is. One other small detail I loved was how the deer were able to roam around the grounds. At this point, we’re about halfway through the trip. We have seen a lot of shrines already. I’ll admit, they were starting to get repetitive, but I think once you have that repetitiveness it makes it easier to appreciate all the differences within these shrines. Each location has a different kind of significance in Japanese history, and that’s what should be looked at more. I said this before, but I love old Japanese architecture, and that isn’t something that gets old to look at. To add onto that, this is pretty much the same thing with a lot of our buildings today, especially in cities. If you go to Tokyo, a lot of the buildings are pretty much recycled. The difference is that those aren’t nearly as sacred and appreciated in the culture. They may help boost the economy, but they won’t have as much as of a presence on the overall history of Japan. It’s definitely something to think about! It’s hard to remember a lot of the time, especially since this trip had a lot of walking involved so we were tired. Whenever I started to get tired or worn out, I reminded myself to appreciate every minute in Japan because it may be a while until I’ll be able to come back.

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