More Lighting Up In Nara
When there working days on my calendar and no lessons to fill out those days I am giving what is called an office day. Back in February when I first heard of these days I believed that one these occurrences where you have to work but have no classes to teach you are supposed to suit up, meaning dress all nice-nice, and head on into your closest office to do whatever it is you’re supposed to do on office days. Although this is certainly an option it is not a popular one and most people take their office days in one of their classrooms. Office days are strange creatures. You are unsupervised, no kids or other teachers, and you required to remain wherever it is that you are for a full five hour block. There is not set time on when you can begin that block, though. You do have to call in and see if you are needed for anything (cover, for example) at 11am but after that you are free to begin your office day when you choose. There is a bit of controversy floating around right now about this as some teachers have been taking advantage of the company which is surprisingly very trusting when it comes to believing teachers under to watchful eyes will actually work on their office day instead of calling in and puttering off after they are told they are not needed. This has been the case with a few instances in my area so with Big Brother watching everybody is ensuring to be somewhere they can be reached during that mandatory five hour block. I haven’t been given many office days and so have not been tempted to abandon my post, so to speak. I have used the time for productive things relating to my lessons and actually enjoy these days as it frees up much more time in the month. Instead of planing my lessons weekly I can get it out of the way in a day or two. Today I headed back into Nara. You may be asking: But Nighthawk, this is your farthest school? Why go there when you could have just walked around the corner? Well, you have to recall that the company foots the travel bill and seeing as how there were a few places on the Nara Light Up lantern walk I had missed on Sunday I figured why not get paid to travel to my favorite city in the country? I did my time in the class, using it to make laminated sharks, gorillas and snakes for game ideas I plan on debuting next month and after my five hours were up I headed on into town with a set of freshly charged batteries and an empty memory card for the camera.
The deer are getting huge now, antlers out in full force. It has been nice watching their transformation over the course of the last few months. Walking around the deer park I’d say is my favorite thing to do in Nara. There are so many photo opportunities and observing the deer so close is fascinating. Today I watched one rolling around pig-like in the mud to cool off. After giving its fur a fine coat of muck it crawled out of the puddle and gave a might shake splattering all around it. Good thing I’d kept my distance. Because of the festival there were more vendors and more vendors meant more food and more food meant more deer. It seemed as though every deer in Nara park was out on the paths trying to snatch away hotdogs and other treats. 
I wandered around looking for things I haven’t found yet. I’m running out of options but still have managed to find a few new interesting spots as well as completely miss the ones I’ve been actually seeking. I’ve been trying to find a certain temple for months and as it was today I have never been able to navigate my way towards it. It is located in a maze of old homes, streets and rice fields and when you get that far away from the main city attractions the English direction signs vanish. Wanting to be back in the heart of the city for the sunset I decided to give up once and for all in finding this temple. Like the internet café back in February, some things I believe are meant to never be found. On the way back into town I found some interesting masks attached to a breaking down wall. The wall was chipped and cracked and masks looked just as worse for wear. Both are in need of repair but being on the outskirts of what draws the tourists in I doubt that will happen. 
Being festival time, I imagine this was the reason anyway, the temples were closed. Because of this there were a lot less people walking up the paths and I was able to get some nice photos of the large, wooden gate as well as some of the deer who had decided to claim the vacated area as their own. Visiting these areas when there’s nobody else around allows you to really appreciate the grandeur of the design and the enormity of these structures. 
I climbed up the stone steps leading to the hall above Todaiji to watch the sky turn to orange and red as the sun sank above the temples and parks of Nara. I’ve seen many beautiful sunsets before but this one, there high above the city from my perch, has to be one of the better of them. This is what inspires art, what makes people want to paint. If only I’d have carted along my materials in that suitcase back in January. Though I have photographed some of these shots now to the point of overkill, long ago overkill, actually, the ambience created by the setting sun provided a vastly different take on the subject matter and the contrast of stark black shadow over bright orange mixed with the perfect set of clouds made for some of my favorite compositions thus far. I said it last year but the one thing this camera does well are sunset photographs. I have to tinker a bit with the settings to get the perfect hues but the results are always stellar. I wonder if one could make a living as a strictly sunset photographer. “There goes the ol’ Nighthawk chasing the sundown again.” 
When I was last here on Sunday night I had arrived just after the sun had gone down and so the lanterns were already burning all over the city. Today I was able to see just how they plan this pretty site which transforms the parklands of Nara into what looks like a sky full of orange stars. Hundreds of volunteers in red STAFF shirts set up the lanterns over chalk line in the grass. These lines are in perfect patterns to create the desired effect as well as to create paths for people to walk around. The staff also ensure that the lanterns are kept at the right intervals and the soon to be illuminated décor is perfectly placed on temple steps, down paths and around the ponds in the park. Lanterns are also placed around the gutter areas to ensure people are aware of these ankle-cracking dangers. The volunteers also chase off deer that are constantly knocking over the lanterns. Buckets of water are placed around the areas and hundreds of small tea candles are placed into the white cup-like lanterns. At the appropriate time a loudspeaker voice from above signals to begin lighting and volunteers and tourists set about to the task of putting flame to wick, usually with those large barbecue gas lighters. There is a race of sorts to see who can light the most, especially with the kids. Now, are these children no playing with fire? Doesn’t Japanese superstition dictate that they will soon be wetting the bed? You know, I’m just saying. 
With the sun now gone and the streetlights off, the city once again becomes alit in the lantern glow. Today I went to the spots I’d missed on my first visit and only now noticed that on Mt. Wakakusa were what had to be a couple hundred lanterns in the form of a symbol I couldn’t quite make out. The parkland by Todai-ji was the most poplar spot this evening and it was hard to move without either walking into somebody or knocking over a lantern. I was starting to think somebody would start chasing me off with a broom. Women dressed up in bright kimono and traditional wooden slippers, clopping around the park. Along the main temple road were the shopkeepers bellowing out their wares as well as all types of food and treats. Another wonderful Nara walk this evening enforcing all the reasons why I love this city. I walked back to the station awash in lantern luminance thinking of the mountain that was now only a few days away.
