Nara
Nara has been here since the beginning.
Nara Prefecture holds a lot of Japan’s firsts: the first planned capital, the birthplace of Japanese Buddhism, and the oldest road in the written record. It was also where women ruled. Six of Japan’s eight reigning empresses held the throne from capitals in Nara Prefecture. Much of that history is still part of everyday Nara. Ancient temples share green space with free-roaming deer, craftspeople shape bamboo into matcha whisks by hand, and breweries still make sake by a method Nara’s temple monks refined centuries ago.
The Nara most people know is only a small part of the story. Go beyond the well-trodden path, and there is much more to find.
