Good morning, Nara! We could spend only one full day here, and there was a lot to see. Having no time to waste, we turned to the Lonely Planet Japan Guide for a brief history of the city and a suggested walking tour of the main sites. As noted in the Japan Guide : Nara was named Japan’s first permanent capital in 710, ending a tradition whereby the imperial court relocated each time an emperor died. The Nara period was hugely influential, absorbing influences from China and laying the foundations of Japanese culture, but it lasted just 75 years. The rapid ascension of Nara’s Buddhist establishment spooked the imperial government, and so the capital was moved to Kyoto, which in turn spared Nara from the destructive wars of later centuries. The Japan Guide recommended the best part of a day to complete its six-kilometer walking tour, starting at Kintetsu Nara Station, where we had arrived by train from Kyoto the previous day. We took the bus...