Nara is a city very close to Kyoto/Kobe/Osaka in the Kansai region of Japan. It was Japan first imperial capital from 710 - 784 until the capital was moved to Kyoto. It was founded and modelled after China's capital, Xi'an, to be a long standing capital that didn't change every time the ruler changed. Nara now is a ancient city preserved with very little of the massive modern development (e.g. no big shopping malls), which adds to the city's charm.
The main attraction of Nara is Todai-ji, a Buddhist temple that is the world's largest all-wood structure. It was built to house a massive Buddha figure that the Emperor had built.
Here's a picture of Todai-ji. See those "ants" in front? Those are people...
Another picture of it. There are more pictures below in my "Japanese may have a lot of cameras, but can't take good pictures" section below... ;-)
The entrance with the incense pit before praying to the Buddha
And here's the Great Buddha. For some perspective, his fingers are six feet long!
Another interesting thing about his hands, do you notice how the left hand is brought in front, with the hand in cupping shape and the left arm forming a square, and the right arm is raised to the square? Very interesting position...
This shows how massive these logs are that were used in the construction
This log has a whole cut into it that is of the dimensions of this Buddha's nostril! If you can crawl through you'll get good luck. This little guy didn't really appreciate the luck he was getting.
A carving of one of Buddha's sixteen disciples. His hands/arms are in the same position as the Buddha's are...
The sign says that it is commonly believed that if you rub the figure and then rub a part of your body that the ailment of that body part will go away. My lower back was bothering me so I figured I'd try. You know what? My back stopped hurting and hasn't hurt for a week since!
An artist drawing Todai-ji
Not a bad drawing...
You can also drink holy water from communal cups, but I opted out of that one...
The gate designating that you're entering holy grounds. Interesting that both Shinto and Buddhist temples have similar gates performing similar functions.
The walkway leading up to the gate. Again, similar to the Shinto temples, deer are considered sacred and so they're walking all over the place. If you stop for too long, you will get surrounded because they think you're going to feed them.
"Welcome to Cool Japan!" I love that sign. Here you can buy all of your stereotypical Japanese souvenirs... Ninja outfits, kimonos, Samurai swords, everything...
Last deer picture...
And some other temples and pagoda that are all together...
And now for the... "Japanese may have a lot of cameras, but can't take good pictures" section
This day made me laugh. I did this trip as a day trip by myself while I was staying with my friends in Kobe. So if I wanted a picture in front of any of these places, I needed to ask somebody.
They all spoke English, so it wasn't a language barrier, but rather a cultural barrier I guess. My preference is for the picture to be able to stand alone without the people in the picture, and then add the people into the picture. Their technique is to...
For starters, I thought this temple would be a nice picture to have, but... you can't even see the temple... where did it go?
This would be a lovely picture of me next to Todai-ji with the blue sky and reflecting pool...
Uh, wow. Looks like you know how to use the zoom... So much for the reflecting pool
Tried it again after going through the temple and ... I said NEXT TO, not in front of... 
Ok another try. Can't let the previous people who blew the shot see me asking other people to take the same shot so how about from this angle? That's perfect gap between the trees of the temple...
Ahh! I said the gap in the trees was for the temple, not for me!
Again, this impressive picture of Todai-ji. Just a picture with me in it (note the shadow line on the ground)...
and this is the result. Ok Tim, where were you?
Funny stuff and another fun day in Japan!
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