Revival

It happened. 

I am reviving the blog. After some serious consideration on what to write about, there just comes a point when one needs to just write. After a little more than one year, I have the pleasure of announcing another adventure that I hope to come back from with more wisdom. With the help of a Student Travel Award from Lumos, I have signed up with Frontier to teach and do conservation work in Koh Tao and Sing Buri. While I am there, I will be blogging using a Lumos blog, but I will also maintain this personal blog. 

A few other things happened too...

 ...Graduated. 

...Fell in Love...

...New friends... 

...Even more new beautiful friends...

  Here's to hoping that the one consistent thing along every journey continues to be the lovely friends. 

 

Last Night In Japan...

How did this happen so fast?

Day 1 seems so long ago, yet so close.

 This is part of the peace memorial at Hiroshima. It is a tragedy because of what the city once was. At first, the seeing the Peace Memorial brought a sense of calm. At the same time, it was preparation to see the details of the horrors of the atomic bomb. The monuments brought awe and human desperation to the story of Hiroshima as opposed to a date, name, and place. Suddenly, everything was so real. It was raining that day, bringing even more reality to the history living out loud.

 This is the last standing building from the original Hiroshima. There was debate as to whether they should have preserved the building, but the people of Hiroshima wanted a monument to recognize the pain they have been through and their hopes for the future without nuclear weapons in the world. Honestly, the human tragedy of the disaster makes me understand the problems and absolute destruction of the atomic bomb, but I don't know whether complete disarmament is the answer. There are too many villains willing to make nuclear arms outside the public eye to make that kind of solution feasible. The decisions of politicians on the issue of nuclear weapons make our world. I never really sit around acknowledging that with every breath I take, there is the possibility of the world's nuclear annihilation and self-destruction, but Hiroshima brought that fact into light.

 This is another part of the peace memorial for the children of the survivors and orphans. The paper cranes you see displayed alongside the goddess are planes made for children to survive these horrors. It is said that if you fold a thousand cranes that your wish will come true, these cranes are hand-made by other school children of Hiroshima. Their heartfelt pains are visible through these thousands of strands of cranes.

 This was the sign at the front of the Hiroshima Peace Museum. Every time that a country decides to research nuclear possibilities, the mayor of Hiroshima sends a letter requesting them to end their experimentation and end nuclear arms warfare. So far, there are 595 letters total and the last one was written to Barack Obama.

After all the intensity of Hiroshima, we had a free day. A couple of us decided to do two adjacent cities in one day. We went to Osaka and then to Nara, of course. I am in love with Nara for all intensive purposes. It is rich with history, people, and great shopping. Of course I love it.

 Above is a picture of the Osaka Sky Tower. It is a feat of architecture for the Japanese. It is beautiful. Absolutely amazing views of the city...

 Not only did we find the architecture beautiful, but we stumbled upon the Aloha Festival in Osaka. Apparently, the Japanese are fans of Hawaii in a big way. These girls were on stage when we arrived. It was funny because even for someone in Japan, I can't escape BBQ. :-D

 This is a small model of the tower that we found in the lobby of the building...

After our free day, we went to Mt. Koyasan.  Mt. Koyasan is the headquarters of esoteric Buddhism and the home of Kukai's mausoleum. Kukai was the founder of esoteric Buddhism. While we were visiting, we stayed in a temple lodging. What that really means is 1) I lived in a yukata or simplified kimono 2) we took mass showers 3) this was our room 4) we woke up for meditation at 7 am and 5) we ate tofu and vegetarian friendly meals only. It was amazing. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple or I would have. Nevertheless, the rock gardens at the Shioji Temple along with the priestess teaching us chants was absolutely awesome. I loved Koyasan. I wish that we stayed there longer, earlier.

 This is my buddy Kiah and I wearing our yukata wears. Everyone wore the same outfit, it was awesome. So incredibly hilarious.

 This morning, we went to visit Kukai's mausoleum before we left for Narita Airport. These are the pictures from the middle of the temple where they placed several bodhisattvas.

 These are the mountains of Kukai.... How I will miss them.

As of Late...

As the trip wears on, it becomes increasingly hard to remind myself to update this blog. This is not because I don't love you, folks. It is mainly because I am having trouble making sure to get to everything before we leave. It seems like the number of things I want to see never decreases; it only increases with time. Fortunately, we are taking a minute to breathe today between all the cities, shrines, temples, and museums that we have visited. Today, we visited an Indian inspired temple called Sanjusangendo. The temple, unfortunately, does not allow for pictures. I will try my best to describe the temple. As you enter the temple there is a sheen of golden statues that begins on your left. As you turn the corner, you realize that the entire room is replicas of the same image. There is a descending staircase from about 30 feet up down to the floor filled with statues of the same goddess, Kannon, representing mercy. At the bottom step there are a series of guardians for the goddess along with a main deity posed in the center with an altar of incense. Many of these statues and their history is linked to the deities of India taken and made into a Buddhist kind of knowledge. This merging of histories and beliefs is what we have defined in our language as syncretism.

Yesterday, a group of us did a mini-pilgrimage of 88 Shrines... I have pictures of all 88, but that will be a mosaic poster for later. In the mean time... this AMAZING shot of the lake next to a temple will be what I will leave you with for understanding...

 This is the temple that was situated on the pond. I found it to be my favorite. If I had to be one of the 88, this is the temple I would become.

 While on the hike across the 88, we found this astounding view of the city of Kyoto. I guess it's a mountain, but I couldn't find the actual name. The hiking that we're doing is really making all of us much healthier...

 Things that never seem to stick with me.....

 This is the awesome and extremely sweet Sara :-D

 One of the most recognizable and noted Japanese monuments is the Golden Pavilion. It was built to be a get away for an aristocrat to become isolated from the world. After his death, it became a Rinzai Zen Temple and now it is a monument. In 1950, the temple was burned by a mentally disturbed priest. Nevertheless, this amazing temple was a sight to see that I don't think can ever be replicated....

Osaka

In our travels today, we returned to Nara for me to buy another amazing kimono. I am sure you will see me sporting it over summer. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever bought in my life. You'll just have to come visit me :D. Nara is my favorite place in Japan so far. There is a really great shopping scene there and we also visited a shabu shabu restaurant today. I was reluctant at first because of the idea of mass amounts of meat, but it's a kind of fondue meat Japanese style. There's a plate of vegetables and a whole plate of meat that you cook in the pot before you. With chopsticks, it was just too much work for me, with all the splattering of the water by noodles and attempts to grab the right pieces of meat. During a meal that I wasn't too hungry and could take my time, I would have enjoyed this a bit more.

Yesterday, we traveled to Osaka to see the Osaka Castle. This is a castle that was built by Hidiyori Totoyomi during the Tokugawa Period. The Tokugawa Period is marked by a sense of militaristic rule by the shogun. Ieyasu Tokugawa decided that he was going to kill off the Totoyomi clan...The castle had amazing views of the city of Osaka in addition to the actual castle itself. The castle was phenomenally decorated...

 Above, is the moat surrounding the castle. It's probably about 50 feet high. The actual castle complex itself is much larger but I found this to be a pretty beautifully intimidating view of the castle.

 At the bottom right, you can see Sean. Sean is a pretty tall guy, so just to give you some idea of the scale of this castle...

 This is my epic looking over Osaka picture taken by Troy from the top of the Castle. It reminded me of the Empire State Building for this view. Notice the Captain Morgan pose haha!

 Here's a picture of me and the guys. From left to right, Jon is sticking his leg out, me, Dustin, and Sean.

Finally, the most amazing thing that I was the most excited about in all of Osaka- The Apple Store. I found the Shinsaibashi Apple Store all the way across the world. Because we stumbled on the Apple Store, we were able to navigate to a particular locale in Shinsaibashi that I'm sure I will tell the story of many times over when you come to see my awesome black kimono :-D

Seven more days. <3

Uji and Nara.

Both of the above places, Uji and Nara, I am thoroughly in love with. There is a certain air about the places and people conducive to me wanting to live their with their generosity, as well as beauty of the geography near the river. Uji is also the origin of all the best green tea in the world.We went to the Uji Bridge, where one of the biggest battles in all Japanese history occurre, as well as Byodin Temple. What seems odd to me is that we have gone from one extreme to another by beginning to climb mountains and rough it out, then later switching to museums and parks. Personally, I prefer the earlier of the two.


This is the Uji Bridge in Uji.... haha. Here, the battle of Uji occurred between the Heike and Minamoto clans. During the battle, the bridge was falling apart. Half of the men were drowning in the river; meanwhile, another slaughter occurred through hand-to-hand combat with katanas and other weapons. Pretty epic, huh?

 The below photograph is a pond next to the Byodin Temple with lotus flowers floating everywhere. There were literally hundreds of lotus floating in the lake, along with a ton of koi. Quite beautiful.

 After our adventures in Uji, Troy, Sean, and I went to meet our English friend, Gregory, for an art opening he happened to stumble on. What we didn't know was the dress code. The prints were fantastic, the artist was not judgmental, and overall, everything turned out fine. It was interesting to see a combination between the self-portrait via written word and visual medium combined. He used the journal entries from his ideas in Blue Mud Bay as the background for the print. The words and values created space, ethereal and intelligent.

 Yesterday, we went to Todaiji Temple in Nara. Nara is the first capital of Japan, thus it has some very old and interesting monuments. While it was the capital for a mere 80 years, Nara is one of the most beautiful places we have visited. Below is a picture of a young man named Tomohiro-san, who happened to start talking to us on our walk to Todaiji. He is a native who went to school literally next door to the temple. He was incredibly nice and even showed us the earthquake simulator.....

 This is the deer in the Deer Park before you reach Todaiji. Although they're cute, watch out... their vicious too. They tried to eat Sean and Sara, not just the rice crackers.

 Remember that earthquake simulator that good ol' Tomohiro-san told us about? Well.... Here I am on it. It was pretty interesting because you weren't expecting the jolt of the movement.

 Here is a picture of Sara and me in front of Todaiji temple.

 Lunch was amazing in Nara. We went to a noodle house and bought green tea hand-cut soba noodles. It was amazing that it only cost us 650 yen, or about 8 bucks.

 After all of our travels to search for Enlightenment, we should have just realized that it's easier if you just squeeze through Buddha's nostril in Todaiji for it. If you search the world what's the point? Why not make it easy on yourself! Just kidding. Below is a picture of my pushing myself through Buddha's nostril in Todaiji. Hopefully, I will be enlightened. :D

Buddhist Temple and Shinto Shrine Writing....

By this point, I realize that life is not as hurried in Japan as it has been in Tokyo. I am having a hard time finding a way to make things new to you, my audience, as a result. We have been sojourning to many a temple finding that the journey is more the focus than is the destination. Yes, I have taken pictures and written poems as a result of these outings. Nevertheless, I don't think that these experiences can be summed up through writing. So, with a humble grain of salt, I give you my pictures and my words to try give some small glimpse into the beauty that is the temples and shrines of Japan...

 This is the amazing view of a river from the walk to Ishiyamadera temple. This temple claims the inspiration of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji. As to whether those rumors are true, no one really knows.

 This is a pictures of me at the Ishiyamadera picture taken by Jonny MacNish. The boy is attached to his camera like a child is attached to their binky. He has over 900 pictures at this point.

 This is the amazing couple/professors that are leading our classroom discussions. Dr. Paine and Dr. Stover are affectionately known by the group as "Dad and Mom". Thanks Dorian!

 This is another view of the mountain on which Ishiyamadera sits. This is our friend Erin.

 I was amazed to see this number of stairs in front of a house. Talk about motivation to want to see your friends.

 Although this looks like a generic mountain view, this is our first official mountain "climbing". We had class on the top of Mt. Hiei, so we could not climb up the mountain. We did take the treacherous path back down the mountain, but I refused to try to take pictures and fall gracefully at the same time. Mt. Hiei was pretty beautiful, but the best part about it was meeting our English friend Gregory.

 This is Dustin, Sean, and I at the top of Mt. Hiei. One mountain down, many more to go.

 The first shrine that we saw on Mt. Hiei at the Enryakuji temple was this amazing gold Buddha. The embellishment is detailed and shines even brighter in real life. The militaristic style of Buddhism occurring at the temple, Tendai, was reflected in the journey to the top through challenging paths up the mountain.

 How many Belmont classes can say they have had a classroom right outside a Buddhist temple? Only one. The special one. Us.

 On the way down from Mt. Hiei, this is a small glimpse of the view that we saw.

 The Inari shrine is one the largest and most iconic in all of Japan. With its thousands, yes I do mean thousands, of torii gates, the Inari shrine has interest visually as much as naturally as artificial. this is the entrance to the shrine. Inari is known by the fox statues throughout the complex and the rice wine (sake) that is drank as a sign of the rice bounty. For the guys and I, the sake was too expensive to drink all ourselves...

 This is just one sliver of the number of torii gates throughout the Inari complex. On the way down from this mountain, somewhere we took a wrong turn and ended up skipping half of the shrine. Instead, we got lost and figured that we were near the next stop on the train, rather than the one that we departed to go to the Inari shrine. Overall, the view made it all worth it...

I know that these pictures are not nearly as interesting and stimulating as the pictures from Tokyo, but I don't think that any of it can do the journey the justice. I know that Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are a foreign and somehow "trendy" spiritual idea in the Western mind... but experiencing them, brings a whole new light into being.

In the course of doing these journeys, I have realized that I would like to climb as many mountains as possible in my life, both in the physical world and in the metaphorical. The challenges exist, but one way or another, they can be conquered. Now, that's not to say that your legs, arms, brain, and heart won't pay for it. Doing this trip, has prepared me for all the hikes.... long, short, steep, or level... bring it on.