First Visit To A Japanese Temple

Yasaka Shrine, which we visited
before Kiyomizu-dera

Hey look, a post I started to write ages ago!

Well basically at this point I've decided to write totally out of order in favor of just getting things done. I started to write this when the memories were still fresher in my mind, and then finished it up today. So here goes: skipping about two weeks ahead, I'm going to talk about my first trip to a Buddhist Temple.

right outside the temple,
a pagoda

My friend and I managed to work out a time to go visit Kyoto, which is sort of her hometown, and also an old capital city of Japan. 

For any of you who would like to know how it is written (or to find out if your computer supports japanese text, haha) these are the kanji:  京都

So anyway, I got to visit Kyoto! Specifically, kiyomizu-dera (清水寺), an old temple that is both sprawlingly large (well technically it's not large but there are a lot of small surrounding shrines and other things so it's like a big complex of shrines and one fairly large temple) and breathtakingly beautiful.

thank God for google images -
yatsuhashi unbaked

google images gets credit here -
yatsuhashi baked

google images to the rescue: warabi-mochi

 Before and after visiting the temple, I got to wander through small streets where all sorts of little shops were hawking regional specialties like yatsuhashi 八橋 (dough made of rice-flour flavored with cinnamon and sugar - they come in two delicious varieties: baked crispy and served with ice cream like a super-thin shortbread or raw and filled with chocolate/red beans/etc. The dough itself also comes in other flavors, though traditionally it's cinnamon) 
warabi-mochi 蕨餅 (starchy jello-like cubes that are then covered with powdery flavored things, a bit more on the undersweet side but very flavorful) , 

google images - tsukemono

tsukemono 漬物 (literally means "pickled things", my friend who went with me described them as "things you put on rice". They are a lot of pickled vegetables and come in a HUGE variety of flavors, my friend and I probably tried two or three at each shop and each shop had like twenty or so, and we still managed to eat about fifteen or so different varieties of pickled veggies. They might be pickled in a normal brine but also come in soy sauce brines, miso brine, and various other flavors), 

google images - umeboshi

and umeboshi 梅干 (pickled plums, which I used to think I hated until I tried these. Turns out I just don't like cheap umeboshi. These pickled plums varied between extremely sweet with a hint of sour and so salty I wasn't sure if it was actually plum or just salt and vinegar with plum waved over the top. They all had a really good flavor, and the shop also served some sort of seaweed broth with it that tasted like sea water but not quite, it had a bit of some sort of soupy essence to it. like if you made soup out of ocean water maybe... )

Finally, last but not least, Kyoto is famous for its matcha 抹茶 (a powdered green tea with a very strong flavor. If you've ever had green tea ice cream, it's a little bit like that, only imagine it much more concentrated. Very good, though according to my friend there are quite a few people who don't like it, they think it is too bitter. I love it though, which means that when my friend and I decided to get a green tea parfait  that cost an arm and a leg but ended up tasting FANTASTIC and was almost too much even though we'd decided to split the parfait and price... haha.  I loved it. There were also matcha cookies that had white chocolate fillings and it was like heaven in your mouth, the subtle white chocolate and the powerful matcha... the easiest way to describe matcha is to have you think of coffee.  I KNOW IT SOUNDS STRANGE, JUST WORK WITH ME HERE FOR A MOMENT. So matcha, like coffee, is a very strong flavor that can be bitter but addicting. Like coffee, there is matcha flavored ice cream, matcha flavored cakes, matcha flavored jello, matcha flavored desserts in general. Now technically matcha and coffee taste nothing alike. But they have very similar qualities in that they both have a very discernable flavor that is an acquired taste but can be used in a myriad of ways. And I love it, so of course I had tons of fun trying the different matcha flavored things in kyoto.)


Now to go into detail about the fantastic temple:

kiyomizu-dera from a distance

it was beautiful. Surrounded by trees, made of old worn wood, the sound of water running (this temple is famous for a waterfall that can supposedly cure ills), a light breeze, the last of the cherry blossoms drifting down from above... the atmosphere was perfect, it wasn't too warm out, and I'm pretty sure my friend was sick of hearing me saying "Aww! So pretty!!!" over and over again.

a shrine connected to kiyomizu-dera

Unfortunately, my camera died almost right away because I couldn't figure out how to get it to tell me if it was running out of batteries or not last night and so I hadn't charged it (stupid me, I know). Fortunately I have a japanese cell phone that, while its photos aren't the greatest, they are of a decent enough quality that I can post them here, though they are a bit fuzzy, sorry.

a buddhist monk chanting

So the first thing that we did when we got to the temple was wash ourselves before entering. This was really interesting to me, because I know that purification is an important concept in Christianity, and I love seeing the things that carry over between cultures because to me I see that as the little pieces of ourselves that God has primed for wanting to know and please him. So to me, realizing that a religion so different from Christianity as Buddhism/Shinto (both have places to wash, particularly shinto shrines) also seeks to purify one's self before entering the presence of a great, eternal being, I was reminded of how we are also meant to approach our creator with a contrite heart, and how important repentance and respect are in our relationship with God. One thing that I absolutely loved about the purification was that not only did you wash your hands before entering the shrine, you also wash out your mouth. 

my friend sabrina took this picture at
kiyomizu-dera, I just stole it from facebook

There was something so intimate and powerful about recognizing that uncleanliness not only comes from what is outside you, but also inside of you, in this simple act. It reminded me of the scripture that says "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" and reminded me that the natural state of the human heart is wicked and dirty, and it's only through Christ Jesus that we can become clean.  Every time I visit a shrine or temple in Japan, I find myself in awe of how a pagan ritual can actually bring me to new understandings of God and what he tells us in his word, and it makes me so happy that he can use these sorts of experiences to teach me, and, I hope, in turn help me to relate to those who are still lost by pointing out universal truths that have been pursued and found in the wrong place. Because no matter how many times you wash your hands and mouth, your heart will not get any cleaner. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can truly purify me.

burning incense in front of the temple

As we continued from there, I was able to look at the temple's interior, which had a large statue of Buddha and was burning incense. If there was one thing I took away from this trip, it was how strangely comfortable I felt in this place, and at the same time, how intensely sad it made me. I was expecting to feel afraid or awkward when visiting a temple, but instead found myself feeling introspective, and concerned for all the lost who came to this place looking for answers that a wooden statue covered in gold leaf could never provide. In the time since I've had the chance to visit many shrines and temples and out of all of my friends, it's safe to say that I am the most comfortable in these spaces of worship, despite the fact that I am also the most vocal about my faith. I once discussed with an Atheist friend why she was so uncomfortable in the space, and she said to her the idea of religion was so foreign that it was hard to come to terms with it. She also mentioned it felt threatening to her worldview in an abstract way, which I found interesting.

kiyomizu-dera is known for having 3 streams
of water - one for good luck, one fore healing
and one for something else, I forget. people
come to drink from the streams of water.
Another interesting analogy to ponder...

To me, I explained, despite the fact that I don't believe in Buddhism or Shinto, I had no problem interacting with the religious spaces, nor did I feel particularly threatened by them. I suspect in part this is because I approached the space as an opportunity to understand how to better reach those who followed it's practice, and also approached it with the understanding that very few Japanese actually practice these faiths. For the Japanese, religion is more like a way to connect with the past than a personal conviction, so many of these shrines and temples are little more than a place to go to "cover your bases". Much like a lot of cultural Christians in America today.

I don't know if the reason I didn't feel much tension in these spaces is because I am not considered a threat by the enemy (I really hope this isn't it, I like to think I'm making a difference), or because I am approaching this religious fixture almost like Paul did on Mars hill  - here, look at your religion, it is close, but you are missing the most important piece: Jesus! The unknown god!

You are worshiping the created rather than the creator! 

One thing I do wish is that more churches in the US were set up like buddhist temples and shinto shrines in Japan - not in the sense of statues and insence, but rather the deep and powerful beauty of these areas for religious gathering. These spaces are beautiful, and so carefully cultivated to really display the vast and intricate beauty of nature. Really, God created this world in so many fantastic ways, and I love that these shrines and temples so strongly display the beauty and wonder that he has created. I think that's probably what I love best about visiting Temples like Kiyomizu-dera -- looking around and seeing God's handiwork, from the nature, to the craftsmanship that was created through talents he gifted... 


When I go to a religious space in Japan, it is created in such a way that I become more attuned to the beautiful and majestic creations in our world, and I wish that churches in America today would bring me the same sense of wonder and beauty. I wish it would be easier to find spaces like this in America, places where I can revel in the handiwork of God as I praise him in a peaceful and beautiful space surrounded by architecture, pools of water, trees, plants, and the wide open blue sky.

Trip to Japan: the Sequel

...because it's just no fun to have a "Part I" that is actually followed by "Part II". It's much more fun to throw expectations out the window and generally be dorky about things.

Well yet again I'm over here apologizing for the delay, believe me when I say it WILL happen again and I'm truly sorry for making you wait, but hopefully the wait will be worth it-ish, or at least not so underwhelming that you decide to never read my blog again, because then there would really be no point in writing.

So all right, last time I checked I was on a plane bound for Seoul, South Korea, where I would have a layover in order to hitch a ride on a plane destined for Kansai International Airport in Japan.

This airpline flight took about 13 hours, which is a very long time to sit on AN ENOURMOUS AIRPLANE THAT ACTUALLY HAD TWO FLOORS DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN ABOVE I'M STILL TRYING TO WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THE SIZE OF THIS HUGE AIRPLANE -- ahem. Anyway. The air did not work, so I was stuck on an airplane filled with a bunch of people and no cool air. You know me and heat -- it's almost impossible for me to sleep without cool air, much less trying to sleep sitting up.

On the bright side, the couple next to me were super sweet, an elderly couple headed to meet their family in the Philippines. They were very kind and we chatted a bit. (I know, I know, Rachel? Chat?! WILLINGLY???) Anyway as we're sitting on the airplane it's time for our first meal on this giant floating bus. The options were chicken, beef, or a korean dish called Bi Bim Bap. Now, I've actually never eaten Korean food. But I figured it was a good time to get used to new things since I was headed for 6 months in a foreign country. The stewardess was like "Are you sure?" and of course I'm like "Oh yeah, sure," and she looked pretty worried when she handed me the meal. But it was good! the only thing I wasn't really a fan of was the seaweed soup, because basically it tasted like lukewarm sea water to me. It's probably an acquired taste.  But the Bi Bim Bap was quite yummy. The most amusing part was seeing the stewardess's face when I handed the tray back with only a bite or two left (there was a lot of food), and about one third of the seaweed soup. (I really did try to like it). She was like blown away that I'd actually managed to eat it, I think she was afraid she'd have to dump the whole meal because I was some dumb tourist who thought Korean food would be an  "experience". Well, it was an experience, and some time I'd like to eat Korean food that isn't going to be served on an airplane.

After that meal, the second meal offered chicken, or beef and noodles or chicken and noodles and I went for the chicken with rice, which happened to have a nice teriyaki sauce and was quite yummy. it also had a creamy cheesecake like dessert. yum! they also served coffee and offered me alcohol, though i declined the alcohol in favor of seattle's best coffee. Nice to know the PNW leaves it's mark all over the world, even on Korean Airlines.

In between the meals we got several servings of tea/coffee/juice/soda/etc, and while the plane floated over the ocean for about 13 hours I watched several movies: Rise of the Guardians, the new movie from DreamWorks. (I love it, the animation is fantastic and beautiful and I quite like the storyline, the only thing is I'm not sure if the movie is trying to make the moon a metaphor for God or not and I'm not so into that but otherwise I really like the message of the story so....) I also watched "Hotel Transylvania", which is a cute coming-of-age story about a vampire girl and her overprotective father. super cute. Then I watched Wreck-it Ralph, the new movie from Pixar, and that was also a great movie, super sweet, lighthearted, great story, all around just adorable.

...then I watched Rise of the Guardians again, in Japanese, because they had Japanese dubs on several of the movies. And then I watched Rise of the Guardians in English again. Then I tried to sleep for about an hour unsuccessfully, following that with another viewing of Rise of the Guardians, though I just skipped to my favorite parts.

The plane finally landed, and I was forced to once again chill with TSA, only due to the previous plane delays, I was pretty convinced I was going to miss my boarding. So it was more like me standing in line frantically glancing at  the clock like "it started boarding six minutes ago, I'm going to miss my flight noooooo, God, I can't sit in seoul for another ten hours or something, I'd go insane, nooooo"

well, long story short, I got there in time to board with everyone else in economy class. So no sob stories of me trapped in seoul, thank God. So after all that, the trip through customs in Japan was surprisingly straightforward. I filled out a paper that told them I had nothing particularly valuable, they waved me through. The only bit of excitement occurred when I accidentally dropped my passport and they were like "excuse me! you dropped it!" and pointed at my passport.  After that "craziness" (seriously, I was like 10 times more itimidated by the TSA people than by customs) I headed outside to find the shuttle stop that would take me to my hotel, where I met two women from france that might have been sisters and may have been a lesbian couple.

I don't know for sure, the two ladies were very nice, we discussed international politics some and the little boy they had with them stared at me with big blue eyes under a shock of white-blonde hair. Their english was very good and they were going to the same hotel as I, so we stood at the shuttle stop together. A Japanese family also rode in the shuttle but they were a bit intimidated by our use of English, so they didn't attempt conversation.

Finally we arrived at the Kansai Airport Spa Hotel, where I and my new acquaintances checked in and headed to our rooms, me lugging my two 25-pound carry-ons and both 50-poundish suitcases (ha, you forgot about those, didn't you? Well I DIDN'T, it's quite hard to forget that you're practically lugging around your body weight in luggage)

Annnd that my friends is where I shall end this post. Next post will have photos from the window of my hotel and also the bus ride to Kobe. Kansai International Airport is in Osaka, not Kobe. But more on that next post. Which hopefully will come sooner than later, but no promises.

The Infamous Ailment Known as "Celebrity Crush"

Seriously, they need to categorize celebrity crushes as some sort of psychological disorder, or at least a disease - because I want a cure. They should put that at the top of the list, and bump down the "find a cure for the common cold" down to #2 on the 'priorities, but not really priorities' list of diseases to cure. It's driving me nuts.

As I rock out to The Phantom of the Opera (easier than one might imagine, I assure you), I decided that with my newfound freedom that is Friday night, I would write in my blog again since I did promise to do so. See, the homework crush really hits home on Saturday afternoon of the weekend for me, so I have to find my freedom early in the weekend or I'll end up not having time to happy dance over a lack of homework. So consider this post my happy dance. I could spend more time youtube stalking my celebrity crush, but I'm really trying to avoid it since it's a total embarrassment to me.

In fact, why don't I just talk about that for a bit. I thought it was silly and a little bit cute when I found out my Japanese professor had a celebrity crush on Johnny Depp. But you know what? AT LEAST THEY WERE THE SAME AGE! That's what really bugs me about having a celebrity crush-- most of the time celebrity crushes affect young people who are not yet old enough for a serious commitment and so they have these sort of far-off ideas of romance and stuff that keeps them afloat until they are old enough to realize that most celebrities are creepers and not very nice and it would be better to find someone who makes a decent wage rather than trying to find that movie star -- especially since they'll probably just end the marriage before too long, since most of them are really messed up by Hollywood.  (Apologies for the run-on sentence, I don't want to go to the effort of fixing it since this is basically just a brain barf on a page kind of blog)

 The way I see it, you can't find fulfillment without Christ, and that probably hits home the hardest when you have everything but feel like you have nothing. Which is probably why so many celebrities have such messed up lives, because they're going crazy trying to find that thing that is missing from their lives, but they can't find it in other people. As a wise man once said, "Sorry Hollywood, but one needy person plus one needy person equals two needy people. The only way to true fulfillment is through the perfect love of Christ."

But I digress. Most celebrity crushes seem to be an affliction for 13-year-old girls, causing them to fawn over 30-year-old (or older) movie stars. And that, my friends, is just creepy. So of course, I always prided myself in never having fallen for one of those silly celebrities, especially since they were all like 20 years older than me. And then... GACKT (who happens to be 38, making him exactly twice my age... eep!).

It's really frustrating to have a celebrity crush, since I'm not exactly sure how it developed. I've been trying to make it into a good thing, but that's only made it worse. Now I know that there are people out there who will go look this guy up if I don't provide some sort of reference for you guys, so I'll go grab a few of the videos/photos I found while internet stalking this poor guy.  (Poor guy because he's a celebrity, stalked, non-christian, etc. Not poor monetarily -- the guy is loaded.)

Aaaaaaaand, did I forget to mention that he is from Japan? Ahaha, I have to laugh at the irony. My Japanese teacher wanted to teach Japanese in America and has an American celebrity crush. I want to go to Japan and help lead people to Jesus and also teach English, and I end up with a Japanese celebrity crush. It's a painful irony.

But mostly I like his voice, because he has a great one. So now I shall show you what I mean. (Warning - he sings rock music, and some of his stuff is pretty heavy.) Seriously, he has a really good voice. I'm posting a live video to prove it, because if you can sound good live then of course you can sound good in studio. I love the strength and clarity of his tone, and I love his vibrato. He stylizes occasionally, but I also just really like the overall sound of his songs too. I tend to like stuff that's on the almost metal-y end of the rock spectrum, so I really like listening to his stuff.

He also dances! (and he's way better at it than I am)  (PS: the following song is one GACKT did for the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. The song is about being a cyborg and how he doesn't want to be controlled by the machines in him)

And he acts! He recently played in a movie that was done here in the states called "Bunraku." It was rated R for violence (and I think 1 swear word), but I thought it was a really, really well written movie. I've only ever seen 1 other rated R movie, and I liked this one better. Then again, the other R movie was Black Hawk Down and it did not have a happy ending, so maybe I'm just doubly biased into thinking this movie was better than it really was. However that works, the fact remains that I was impressed. They managed to hook you and keep you interested in a story that had two protagonists, and you never even learned the name of one protagonist. (It's like a huge no-no in movies to have more than one protagonist - it confuses the audience. it's also a big no-no to have a protagonist that's hard to relate to - ie, a guy with no name) But it was still a great film! Plus it had an interesting premise - Post-apocalyptic world where guns are outlawed so everyone fights with fists or swords (hence the violence - it's a lot more up-close and personal).

But I digress. Or, I could show you a movie trailer...

 

And I just really loved this scene in the movie. These guys come in right after Yoshi (played by GACKT) has showed up at his uncle's Japanese restaurant. They're messing up the place, threaten the uncle, and then make a pass at his cousin. Yoshi (GACKT) has had enough.

 

 (Oh, by the way, JIN is one of the 7 ways of the samurai. It means trying to keep from fighting until it becomes necessary.)

And I mentioned earlier that this was a celebrity crush that I was trying to turn into a good thing that just turned into a worse thing, right? Yes well, I was starting to get really interested in what was going on with this singer GACKT dude but I didn't want to get too obsessed because I have vehement distaste for the whole celebrity crush thing. It's childish, in my opinion. So, in an attempt to keep myself from turning this into a crush I decided to pray for him, since he is not a christian. Now, I don't know if God has decided that GACKT will be an 'object of mercy' (Romans 9:16-ish and onward) or not, so I'm just praying that if Gackt is one of the people whom God has selected, that God would just put people around him who would lead him to a relationship with our savior. But to my dismay, I discovered that apparently praying for someone is not a good way to stop thinking about them, and so I ended up just liking the guy more -- and praying for the guy just makes my feelings stronger. NOOOOOOOOO!!!! So now I officially have my first celebrity crush, and it's all because I decided to pray for him. I'm not going to blame this on God, but I am a bit disgruntled that this happened.

Oh well. Who knows? Maybe my prayers will end up working, or at least get something moving in the heavenlies. I mean, even if God can get some christians into Japan's music industry I would be happy. They have no christian music, which makes it sad for me because I would like to listen to uplifting, christian Japanese songs but they don't have any of those, unlike in the US. Besides, God knows the Japanese people need all the prayers they can get. Their country has the highest rates of Manic Depressive disorder in the entire world AND they have the highest suicide rate of any country. Only 5% of the population claim to be christian, and the culture is very, very secular. So lately my prayers have gone a little something like this:

"Dear God this is stupid but I have a stupid celebrity crush and I pray that you would bring people who know you around GACKT, and that if it is in your will that you would soften his heart towards you God, and I pray for the rest of the people of Japan that you would bring more of them to you and that you would strengthen and encourage your believers in Japan and lastly if you could help me a little with my stupid homework I would appreciate it..."

I'm just glad that God isn't a grammar freak or I would never make it past the pearly gates. I swear most of my prayers are mental run-on sentences.

So there you have it, folks. Another filler chapter (update? post? whatever these blog thingies are called) that I wasn't planning on writing. But hey! It's the weekend, and I'm FREE TO WRITE (blogs or otherwise) for another few hours and then I will disappear into the abyss that is sleep and then I will get up, do some writing or drawing, and about mid-afternoon Saturday I will reluctantly begin my homework.

...really? Wow, I just have no life...

...Sorry. Sometimes I just look at myself and laugh at how pathetic I am. This, my friends, is one of those times. Well, this unfortunately celebrity-crushed girl is going to try and find something to do that does NOT involve youtube stalking a certain celebrity for more of his talk-show interviews... 

Yeah. Definitely not.

At least, not for TOO long...






...'cmon guys, that was a joke. You're supposed to laugh, not stare at me and "heh" awkwardly.

...