Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"In 710 the Empress Gemmei founded the first permanent capital of Japan at Heijo-kyo, west of the modern city of Nara. When completed in c.720, Heijo had a population of around 200,000. The foundation of Heijo began a seventy-year period of political stability known as the Nara Period (710-784), when Japanese government, culture, and law became increasingly modeled on those of China. In this period too, the Chinese writing system was adapted to the Japanese language. The Nara Period also saw the rapid growth of Buddhism in Japan." [1001 Days]