The Unexpected South Indian Influence in Nara, Japan

Me, my wife and my brother were on our first major International trip to our dream destination, Japan, back in 2019. The time was pre-covid, where Instagram reels did not yet take over the world, and Japan was still a “not-so-cool” destination beyond a few anime fans. We wanted to do the trip for two reasons

  1. I love anime.
  2. My wife always dreamed of going to Japan

Let’s be honest, We know why we went to Japan.

My wife always wanted to go to Japan - I know, these days all of us do. But she was serious about it, she learned Japanese for 4 years back in 2013, preparing for a time in the future when she’ll be able to hold a conversation with a Japanese person without offending them.

So naturally we picked the best time of the year [that fits our budget, back then], and chose to go in the fall.

Fall was an interesting choice for us, coming from India, we didn’t know a season like this existed - so we didn’t know what we signed up for. We chose it because a few comments on reddit mentioned its cheaper than Sakura season, during which my wife originally wanted to go. In hindsight, choosing sakura season would mean the trip would have never happened, because, COVID.

So I put down a itinerary so meticulous, that I’d any day, say that this is the best itinerary i’ve put in my life. It was optimised for max-utilizing the JR Pass [the train pass used for bullet train], it covered the Golden path of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka. With day trips to Hiroshima, Mt.Kawaguchiko, Nikko and Nara.

You can go through our detailed itineary here. Don’t be in shock looking at the prices, inflation is real, kids.

This story is about our trip to Nara, a quaint village in the outskirts of Kyoto, that is popularized its friendly deers. We honestly slotted this in our itinerary purely for the deer experience, and may be stroll around nearby gardens. But I had no idea what was in store for me.

Nara’s icon is the deer park, surrounding the Todaiji temple, where people interact and pet the deers. From our trip we knew that most of Japan’s villages and tourist towns had a temple attractions. Given our previous experiences in Nikko, Kyoto and many other places, we expected the usual - a magnificent temple structure, a garden, a few souveneir shops and may be a museum. Sure, Nara checked all the boxes, but with there was more than that meets the eye.

The first obvious sign was this unassuming pillar of the Lion Capital of Ashoka Lion Capital of Ashoka