The temples

It is funny how I have started to make statements about things that I want for sure and I know I will get. One of them was to go to a Buddhist temple. Actually, before going to Japan, I asked myself what I would like to see and this was the only answer I could give myself, and I told my friends and parents “In Tokyo, I will go to the temple”. Even nicer was that our hosts organized for us a cultural program as well (I loved them for that), and I guess I don’t have to tell you that the very FIRST thing we got to visit was …. THE TEMPLE. The oldest temple in Tokyo, a fascinating world that took me back in time, 25 years back, when I could see myself little in a Buddhist temple in Thailand. I was so overwhelmed with everything, the spirit of the place, the smoke of the burned incense sticks, the people touching the statues for good fortune and all the other things that I did not know what they meant, but I was sure that they were having a way greater significance then what I was thinking, all those hopes and dreams, and wishes and love. That place I just loved. Of course I made my secret wishes there and let the Universe do his job as it knows very well  every single time, but most of all I wished for all to have open spirits and forget about their mundane worries and live life as it was the most precious and beautiful gift of all.





We also had a visit at the Edo museum. Not being familiar with the culture, I didn’t try to get too much information in my mind, I just loved to see the Japanese way of living through the centuries, their tiny houses, the way they used to organize and discipline themselves and so I got to understand a little bit that this was the only of surviving after being hit by so many terrible events (fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars) – they learned that solidarity is more important than anything, they managed to save thousands of children during the second World War by sending them to the countryside after being properly gathered together – I guess this is why, now, (if the person who told me this was not wrong), at 5pm, every day, a little song is sang across Tokyo and at that time children would have to go home and stay in the house – so obedient – and they built a country from scratch with HARD work and dedication. For a long time, Japanese people used to work 7 days out of 7, after WWII they starved and were grateful for any additional bowl of rice that they only got to obtain with very hard work, without complaining, without deserting, without being lazy or unhappy for their terrible fate. They built a nation out of HARD work, from a country that practically has no natural resources of its own. The great pride of Japanese is though, water – tap water which is actually so pure that it does not even have to be filtered. I would be myself proud for such a resource, for the respect they have for environment and nature, for their harmony they want to translate into daily life from their beautiful and unique religion which is Shinto. I read that after WWII, of course, the beautiful trees of Japan disappeared so they all decided that they would have to reforest again Japan and each person contributed to this, because they knew that all their energy would come from nature.