Nara is a small and mostly unassuming city in the Nara Prefecture of Japan, but despite this still receives some love from tourists thanks to a number of attractions. Once the capital city of Japan during the eighth century, Nara is home to eight sites that make up a collection known as the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, and a recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site. Though small, the history, architecture, and the unique atmosphere that differs distinctly from Kyoto’s prestigious vibe is what draws visitors to this city.

Unlike many other cities in Japan, we also found that Nara is home to a number of free activities, which is fantastic for anyone travelling on a budget like us. With only one full day in Nara, we sought to get a fill of local specialties and a look of the sights, and we found it pleasantly easy to do so.

Nara Prefectural Building Rooftop (奈良県庁舎屋上広場)

Our start to the day began with brunch on the rooftop of the Nara Prefectural Building (奈良県庁舎屋上広場). This unassuming office building has free entry to its rooftop, which is in fact encouraged to be visited by tourists. Though signage is not ample it is certainly enough to guide those who come seeking it to this lesser-known hotspot. Simply take an elevator to the rooftop, the floor of which is labelled in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, and you’ll find yourself with a lovely view of the surrounding areas.

The building itself is hardly very tall, but it’s around the same height of most others in the flat city, allowing for a fairly good 360° panorama. Let’s be honest: it may not be the most popular place to go for an Instagram shoot but it’s clean, very quiet, and there are plenty of benches, which provided the perfect place for us to eat some lunch in peace. As it’s an office, it is closed on weekends, so that’s something that you need to look out for.

Kakinoha Sushi (柿の葉すし)

Nara is famous for a type of sushi called kakinoha sushi, which uses salt-marinated fish pressed into a cube with rice and wrapped in persimmon leaves to ferment. This was a popular method of preserving fish to allow for it to be transported long distance, and it’s now more commonly consumed as a celebration food at festivals. Originally, only saba mackerel (さば) was used for kakinoha sushi, but nowadays there are also variations with different seafood. There are many places that sell this dish, and as it was previously made to last long distances it often comes already packaged in a lunchbox from specialty sushi stores for you to carry out.

Kakinoha Sushi Tanaka (柿の葉すしたなか)

Kakinoha Sushi Tanaka is one of many specialty stores that specialise in this particular dish. The location we visited was near the entrance of the Higashimuki Shopping Street (東向商店街) near the Kintetsu Nara Train Station (近鉄奈良駅) and just a couple of minutes’ walk from the Nara Prefectural Building. We opted for the 7-piece lunchbox, which comes with two pieces of tai sea bream (鯛), two pieces of sake salmon (さけ), and three pieces of saba mackerel for ¥1,177 after tax (US$10.60). It came with some pickled ginger.

Though the sushi is meant to be bite-sized, we found that that would have been quite a tall order. They are pretty hefty in size, and for most people are more easily consumed in two bites. Most of the sushi is rice, with only a very thin piece of fish, but we found that the saltiness of the fish meant that the amount of seasoned rice used was very well-balanced. The persimmon leaves are not meant to be eaten, but provides a light, floral fragrance to the sushi during fermentation.

The sea bream had a lightly oily flavour, though nothing pungent. The salmon was decidedly saltier, similar to a piece of smoked salmon though less of the smoke. The mackerel was a much richer flavour, so much so it tasted as if the savoury, creamy Kewpie mayonnaise had been added to the fish, making it our favourite one by far. All of them were absolutely delicious, so if you like sushi we highly recommend trying it out. Thanks to the way it’s wrapped, it’s a convenient lunchbox to take on the train on your way to the next city.

Yomogimochi Mugwort Rice Cakes (よもぎ餅)

Yomogi mochi (よもぎ餅) is also known as kusa mochi (草餅) or “grass mochi”. Mochi is a rice cake made using pounded glutinous rice, which despite its name contains no gluten, but has a soft, chewy texture. Yomogi mocha is coloured green using mugwort, which is a common plant used in both Korean and Japanese medicinal cooking which results in a faint herbal flavour. Its roots can be traced back to Chinese qīngtuán (青糰), and it can either be eaten plain or filled with things such as red bean paste.

Nakatanidou (中谷堂)

If you’ve at all been exposed to Japanese tourism videos it’s likely you’ve seen the famous shopfront of Nakatanidou, or more importantly the image of two men hard at work pounding at a large ball of glutinous rice cake with terrifying coordination. It’s no surprise that you’ll often find a crowd of tourists at the shopfront of Nakatanidou with their phones and cameras out, keen to film the entertaining demonstration. Otherwise, this shop sells yomogimochi for ¥150 (US$1.35) apiece. They come individually or in packs of varying numbers, which suits any number of tourists. You can also purchase a variety of senbei rice crackers, though of course their mochi is what most people come for.

Nakatanidou’s yomogimochi is rather hefty, tender in texture, though a little chewier than other mochi we’ve had throughout Japan. It has that familiar, stretchy chew, and a light flavour of mugwort which is pleasant and almost slightly savoury. The mochi is filled with a red bean paste which is perfectly sweetened and appropriately proportioned to the quantity of mochi, and it’s tossed in kinako, a roasted fermented soybean flour, which provided a lovely nutty aroma very similar in flavour to peanut butter. It’s absolutely delightful, and we were satisfied with the quality, size, and the theatrics of the demonstration.

TōDai-Ji Buddhist Temple (東大寺)

TōDai-Ji was once considered one of the Seven Great Temples, it’s home to a DaiButsuDen Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿), built in 1709, that was the largest wooden building in the world up until 1998. It’s home to the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha, Vairocana at almost 15m (50ft) tall. Though the entrance to the TōDai-Ji Museum is ¥600 (US$5.40), its NanDaiMon Great South Gate (南大門) is itself a National Treasure, an excellent photo opportunity, and a great site to visit if you’re looking out for deer.

Yoshiki-En (吉城園)

Yoshiki-En is a Japanese-style garden is a designated Cultural Property, i.e. a property to be preserved as a Japanese heritage site. Though it’s small, it consists of three sections: the pond garden, moss garden, and garden with a tea house, which combined allow for different visual and textural aspects that make the garden feel larger than it is. Be warned that its ground is a little bit uneven, but it’s free entry for foreigners who can present a passport or other proof that they are not Japanese citizens. Otherwise, expect to pay ¥250 (US$2.30) for each adult as an entrance fee.

Kōfuku-Ji (興福寺)

Kōfuku-Ji is another Buddhist temple which was considered one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara. It is one of Japan’s oldest and most famous temples, and is the national headquarters of Hossō, a school for Buddhism. It is also home to the second-tallest five-storey pagoda in Japan, losing out only to the five-storey pagoda in Tōji in Kyoto, though the one at Kōfuku-Ji is older. You can read more about it on the Kōfuku-Ji website (English), and the World History Encyclopedia. The grounds themselves are free entry, though please remember to be respectful as it is a religious site.

Naramachi Koshino Ie (ならまち格子の家)

In Japan, machiya are traditional Japanese-style townhouses, most of which were demolished during World War II bombings. Kyoto is the only major Japanese city that was not decimated by the war, which is why it retains so much of its traditional feel as compared to Tokyo and Osaka. It’s no wonder, then, that there are efforts to preserve machiya housing. In Nara, you can visit the Naramachi Koshi no Ie (ならまち格子の家), a preserved machiya townhouse with all of the features of a traditional Japanese home – notably the latticed windows, rectangular design, and its deep interior despite the small street-facing entrance.

The house is incredibly clean and well-maintained, and like any Japanese abode you are required to remove your shoes before entering the main building. It’s an incredible place to be, exuding simplicity and practicality. Upon entrance you are provided with a simple brochure (English available) outlining the architecture, which allows for a better understanding of the house. We highly recommend a visit, as it’s free, not very crowded, and an exceptionally fascinating look into tradition.

Izakaya Yamatoan (和食とお酒 やまと庵)

There’s no way we’d finish the day off without at least sampling one more local specialty! We were recommended Izakaya Yamatoan by our guesthouse host, so off we went for a try. Izakaya are typically casual places for food and especially drink, but here we were separated almost into a little booth where we felt that we weren’t obliged to drink. We decided to order a warm miwa soumen (あったかい三輪素麺). Miwa soumen is a very thin wheat flour noodle, about the size of vermicelli or angel hair pasta, though is typically firmer and chewier than typical soumen. It can either be served hot or cold, depending on the dish and the weather.

At Yamatoan, it came in a warm broth with some egg, fish cake, and vegetables. The broth tasted like a typical dashi stock, very flavourful and savoury though not too salty, and we found that the noodles carried the flavour of the broth very well. We tried it with the red pepper flakes, which added a nice flavour but absolutely no heat. The bowl of noodles was relatively well-sized, and set us back only ¥702 (US$6.35).

We also ordered the Yamato black pork claypot fried rice (やまと豚の士鍋チャーハン; ¥734; US$6.65). Kurobuta, or black pig, is meant to be the wagyu of pork, regarded as a premium pork known for its flavour and texture. The dish came in a small clay pot, with seasoned rice at the bottom, ribbons of egg, and slices of black pork and spring onions. We found the dish very flavourful, with tender and flavourful pork. The claypot also toasted the rice, giving it the fried rice flavour. It was also very well-sized for the price. If you’re looking for a place with good food, this is an excellent place to visit, as the smaller portion sizes means you can order a number of dishes without spending too much.

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