Amazing

Friendships are amazing. You can spend years with someone and not know them, yet you can spend a passing moment with another person and build a friendship for life. What makes the difference?

Back in my junior year in high school, I went to Nepal for about a 2 or 3 week volunteer project. That's somewhere around 12 or 13 years ago. On the last few days of the trip, we went trekking in the Himalayan mountains for a few days. There was a sherpa guide and his team who took us around. During the trip itself, I didn't have that much chance to talk with the head sherpa, but after I returned to Japan, we started writing each other. Can you believe that 13 years later, that friendship is still continuing? I think it's amazing. It's one of the many friendships that I treasure in my life.

I also have another friend from that volunteer trip that I still keep in touch with. Her name was Shoba and she cooked all the meals for us while we were in Nepal. She couldn't speak English, but for some reason, Shoba and I, we were able to communicate through hand gestures and body language. It was amazing. I made several attempts to write to her in Nepalese using the dictionary, but I have a feeling that my writing probably didn't make sense. I do hope that she understood that I was somehow trying to convey to her that I loved her and I cared about her.

After some time, her daughters took over the written communication for us and we were able to communicate better =). I still keep in touch with her too.

There were two other people I regulary kept in touch with until a few years ago, but I've lost touch with them now. I think I better dig up my old letters and try to see if I can find them again. Every time they wrote to me, the address was different, so I was never sure if they'd get my letters or not.

These days, there's the handy old e-mail. In some ways it closes the distance between friendships, in some ways it puts distance between friendships. I think I should pick up a pen and write to my friends. It's been a while since I've done that.

Quick Trip to Tokyo

I took the overnight bus for the first time to Tokyo the other day. The seats were so narrow and hard, I have no idea why they even offer such an uncomfortable trip that takes some 11 hours. BUT, taking the bullet train to Tokyo costs about 15000 Yen (about $130) one-way, and taking the overnight bus costs about 5000 Yen (about $40), so I took the cheaper fare...now I know why it's so cheap. They actually have comfortable overnight buses too, but since I took the cheapest class, it was pretty bad. At least the people riding were decent and I didn't have to feel scared. Sometimes when I took the Greyhound in the States, it was scary.

Tokyo, boy oh boy, that place is just so crazy! Skyscrapers in every direction, an alley that leads to who knows where in every direction, trains of every kind in every direction...pure confusion for me. It's a miracle that I even managed to reach my destination. I went to a meeting for a Creative Arts Therapies planning committee. Exciting!

I have to go up to Tokyo again next week for a different conference. I better make my reservations now for another bus trip.

"Elizabethtown" and "In Her Shoes"

Went movie-hopping yesterday!It was a national holiday so no work. Hurray! I wanted to see both movies and since it was "ladies day Wednesday" where the movie fees are 1000 yen (=$8), instead of the normal 1800 yen (=$15), I went ahead and saw both! Fun! Fun!

Elizabethtown: The trailer made the movie seem better than it actually was. The storyline didn't make too much sense to me, but I did like the roadtrip scenes. Made me feel nostalgic about all the roadtrips I've been on. Ooh, I really miss going on roadtrips. They're not easy to go on over here because the "freeways" aren't "free" over here. It feels like you have to pay $5 for every mile you go on the freeways here. Of course, it's not THAT expensive, but coming from where it was all FREE, it feels just the same. Ooh, the freedom of driving for miles and miles without a town in sight and nothing but nature surrounding you...I really miss that.

In Her Shoes: Didn't really know what the movie was about, but it sounded fun so I saw it. It was great! Cameron Diaz was great. Ella, the grandmother, was great too. Fun movie. Happy ending.

After seeing two movies with plenty of American culture in them, I feel HOMESICK! I know right now I'm here in Japan by choice...but at the same time, I have to say I feel torn between wanting to be in the States living my life as I had pictured it, but also feeling like I'm here because there must be something I'm supposed to find for myself in this place. I don't think I've found what it is yet that I'm supposed to find.

Anyone have any ideas on what it is I'm in search of here?

"Let's Self-Medicate!!!"....Are you serious?!

Believe it or not, there's a commercial here that is advocating self-medication. Nope, it's not a joke! The messege they're trying to get across is "Take control of your own health. Buy over-the-counter drugs and take care of yourself!"

A BIG HMMMMMMMMMM, right?

If you're going to pay a huge amount of money to make and air commercials, wouldn't you want to at least check that the main motto makes sense?

"Self-medication is the use of drugs, often illicit, to treat a perceived or real malady, often of a psychological nature.

Some mental illness sufferers attempt to correct their illnesses by use of mind-altering drugs. While this may provide relief, it can exacerbate the problem in the long run, leading to addiction, as well as the side effects of long-term use of the drug.

Sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder are especially prone to self-medication." (Wikipedia)

There's plenty of strange English being used here, so I suppose one more won't make that much of a difference, but considering all the discussions I had on the problems of self-medication in counseling classes, I have strong objections about this one!

NO, you DON'T want to self-medicate folks!! GO to a professional. Get help. Don't self-medicate!

Why dragons then peaches?

In a lot of the traditional Japanese-style homes, I noticed that they have these dragons or some kind of imaginary beast on the four corners of the roof. They're quite fascinating.

My guess is that they're meant to protect the home from whatever evil spirits that may come from the four directions. That's a wild guess, so it could be that they're just for decorations.

But then, Japanese people are really superstitious in certain ways, so it's hard to think that these dragons have no meaning...

As you can see, some of them have a really menacing look.　

SO, my questions is:
What's the meaning behind a PEACH?

Why a peach? Why not a banana? Why not a whole fruit basket?

Ideas, anyone?

More of Kyoto: Shijyo? Yasaka?

Town by the riverside.

We meant to look for a place called "Philosopher's Path," but instead, found a shrine we weren't really looking for. But I do think it was a famous shrine...Yasaka Shrine? A scary looking warrior was "sitting" gaurd.

Lanterns of people who made donations I think.

Everything in this alter has some sort of meaning, but I couldn't find an explanation for them. I guess it's common knowledge over here. Looks like they lock up their gods in shrines??

A little girl sounding the bell to make a wish.
Japanese people are crazy about good luck charms and fortune telling. They were selling all sorts of charms here. To pass college exams, safety, marriage, to get smart, anything you can think of, they have.

One of the types of charms are these wooden boards with decorations painted onto them, and you're supposed to write your wish and hang them here. I think they get burned after receiving a blessing by the monk, so that the wishes will reach the gods.

Found this comical looking buddha in an alley, on the walk back from the shrine.

Wandering Through Kyoto: Myoshinji Temple

Although I didn't know how the bus system worked, my friend and I somehow found our way to Kyoto.

Last time I went to Kyoto, it was FREEZING cold, so this time I went well prepared. I think I overdid it, because I was hot this time.

The garden paths feel so poetic.

This was one huge temple! There was an awesome dragon painting on the ceiling inside. These temples were built in 1654....amazing.

A Zen Goddess. First time to see one.

Cranes painted on a panel door by a famous artist...but I forgot who.

Another Zen Goddess. I like these better than the regular buddhas.

A bell tower?

Cemetary. They had a lot of the wooden panels placed in the back...maybe they're for good luck?

"Geta" sandels for the monks I think.

I love these bamboo water holes. They're so aesthetically beautiful.

Feels like walking through a poem.

A dry sand garden. It was absolutely quiet here.

Can you believe a gardener was actually stabbing ONE leaf at a time, to pick up all the leaves in the garden? And more leaves just kept coming down as he was picking each leaf up....talk about patience!!

A Shrine in the Parking Lot?

There's a 5-car parking lot in front of the English language school I work at. Only 2 of the spaces seem to be in use, so I wish they would lease out the others, but whoever owns the parking long claims them to be taken. Hmm.

On this small piece of land, there's this tiny shrine, complete with the red posts/gates leading to it. Not only that, but the Ojizou house that I posted before, also is on this same property. So I ask, why, is there a small temple for the buddhas and also a shrine on such a limited amount of land?

This part of town is definitely not considered a tourist spot, so why? Why both a temple AND shrine?

The difference between a temple and shrine, from what I've noticed are these:

-temples: They have buddhas.

-shrines: No buddhas. They always have red posts/gatesleading to the shrine.

I don't know if this is true or not, but a taxi driver in Kyoto who was also acting as a guide, said that shrines worship birds as gods, and so the gates were placed for the purpose of giving the "gods" a place to rest. Makes sense, but is it true? I wonder if the number of posts have any significance?
A majority of Japanese people aren't religious, except on certain ceremonial events such as weddings, funerals, and certain national holidays. As a result, they go to both temples and shrines and seem to have a polytheisic belief.

Someone is taking good care of the Ojizou and the shrine in the parking lot. Who is it? What are these used for? The mystery of my surroundings keep growing.