Kashihara City
The destination has always been known but the where within has been a mystery until now. After months of wonder and anticipation I have been sent my placement. There is now a little spot, an empty room if you will, in Japan that I can call home. Although The Company has stated from the interview onward that location requests are entertained, not guaranteed, I have tentatively been given my secondary selection. I admit, I did not know much about Japan when I started this little journey. My early history lessons were administered by Kurosawa films, Murakami Haruki’s Norwegian Wood and atrociously dubbed cinema that generally revolved around the adventures of young boys in very short shorts worshiping giant spinning turtles.
Prior to my interview, I knew one thing for certain: even if The Company had placements there, which they do not, Tokyo was a resounding NOkyo! First off, I am terrified of giant marauding monsters (really puts you off your yakitori) and, secondly, Tokyo is a large metropolis of neon and chrome. I have already called the concrete jungle home and at this point in my life I do not wish to return to large city life. As a wise philosopher once said (I believe it was Socrates): "Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside." I wanted to find the Japan of Rashômon, Buddhist shrines and the elegant kimono clad geiko. In other words, I wanted to be in the heart of cultural, historical Japan. This heart beats strongest in Kyoto, which was my first choice. Nara, I learned, was a fine runner up for the more traditional aspects of Japan I wanted to immerse myself within. It is in this prefecture that my new home awaits.
The city is called Kashihara. It is roughly one hour outside of Kyoto and forty minutes outside of Osaka and has a population of 125,513 (about 734,191 less then Ottawa). Upon reading the email I first turned to my Lonely Planet guide and then to the net to see what I could find out about my new home.
It appears as though I will be surrounded by three mountains: Mt. Unebi, Mt. Miminashi and Mt. Kaguyama. This thought cannot help but bring up the gorgeous atmosphere of the Moon Farm, my distant friends little corner of the world out in the Coastal Mountains. In looking at the photos online, I can confidentially deduce that these Japanese peaks are significantly smaller then their British Columbian cousins but, nevertheless, there will be abundant hiking facilities. I have already mentioned the proximity to Kyoto (“Kyoto, more then any other city in the country, offers what a great many Westerners long for in Japan: raked pebble gardens, the sensuous contours of a temple roof, the tripping step of a latter-day geisha in pursuit of a taxi.” - Lonely Planet) and Osaka (“Indeed, Osaka is surpassed only by Tokyo as a showcase of the Japanese urban phenomenon.” – Lonely Planet) and I foresee in my crystal ball days off spent wandering and roaming the streets of these two cities.
Kashihara is still in its relative stages of infancy as far as cities go. The city was founded the same month Elvis entered the charts for the first time, February 1956. One website informs me that “Kashihara is dotted with ruins, tombs and tombs of emperors.” The centerpiece to the city, and the main tourist attraction, is Kashihara-Jingu, a shrine that dates back to the Meiji period of the late 1800s. The area holds the origins of imperial rule in Japan and Nera itself holds eight UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Sites: five Buddhist temples (Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Yakushi-ji, Gango-ji and Tōshoōdai-ji), Kasuga-yama Primeval Forrest, the remnants of the Heijō-kyō Palace and Kasuga Taisha, a Shinto shrine established in 768 A.D.
“The largest freestanding wooden building is in Nara as well as one of the largest Buddha statues,” says Mog, another journeyman in the Land of the Rising Sun. He also emailed me a piece of information I find extremely fascinating. In the World War II bombing brigades on Japan US pilots were actually told to not bomb Nara and the surrounding areas because of its historical significance. I suppose that is a comfort should I find myself in a country under attack. I wonder if Gamera would have been as pleasant as the United States and not use his plasma blasts in the Nara prefecture. I find further comfort in knowing that not only do I have less chances of being bombed but, maybe, just maybe, living in the Nara area will bestow upon me an immunity to giant reptile attacks.
