Contact is Made with the Locals

Monday I started my AOB (area orientation brief) class which culminated yesterday with a field trip to anywhere we wanted to go in Japan.  The class itself was pretty good.  We had two locals teach us about the country, places to go, basic phrases, and what to expect when we go out.  Some things I found interesting:

1.  The Japanese language is very structured and strict.  While the English language has thousands of different sounds the Japanese language has only a few hundred, and letters are always pronounced the same.  Also the words are always the same, they don't have as many verb irregularities as we do.

2.  Japanese people have a very hard time pronouncing the word "irregularities".

3.  We were talking about what to expect shopping wise, and they were talking about how most the stores are small and specialty stores.  She explained that we shouldn't walk outside and expect a Walgreens, or a Walmart, or a Target, then she got quiet, her eyes gazed off into the distance and she said, to no one in particular "I wish we had a Target here".

So we were in a group as we headed out.  A couple of the people picked a shrine to go to and I'm all about tagging along.  The world is filled with too many leaders right?

Quick summary:

The major "religion" here is Shinbutsu Shugo, and I use quotes because it's sort of a combination of two religions, Buddhism and Kami.  Buddhism is known fairly well so I won't really explain it, and Kami is this kind of "God is everywhere in everything".  It's centered on these spirits (there are over 2,000 of them) and each has it's own shrine, they're scattered all over Japan.  We went to a shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji, the emperor of Japan from late 19th century to early 20th.

Before you go in to any shrine there are these gates, called Torii gates (below).  These are very large and are in front of any place that the Japanese people deem to be sacred.  Before walking in it is custom to pause, remove your hat if you're wearing it, bow respectfully, then enter.

Following these gates were these long wooded walkways leading in to the actual shrine.  It's kind of hard to explain the immediate impact, but within seconds you go from these incredibly crowded streets to this silent secluded area.  It's pretty neat.

After about a quarter of a mile or so, couple bends in the road you come to a purification station (I made up that name myself) before you go in to the actual shrine.  You wash both your hands, and then take a bit and gargle it (because our mouths are FILTHY) before you enter the "holy area".

The actual shrine itself takes advantage of space more than anything.  It's not incredibly ornate or architecturally innovative, but it's simplicity is equally as impactful as large statues or murals would be.  There was also a marriage taking place which was pretty cool.

Within the shrine itself is a place to make prayers to the particular Kami spirits for that shrine.  As the ceremony goes you go up to a specified area, ring a bell to awaken the spirits, bow twice (once to say "hello", and another to thank them in advance for hearing your prayer), place some money in a slot, clap twice to scare away evil spirits, then press your hands together and say your prayer.  Once again you bow to thank them then go on your merry way.  They asked that we not take pictures in this area, so I got nothing for ya, but it was pretty cool.

Later we went down some random alleyway and found a restaurant with no english, pointed at some pictures, and had this awesome egg noodle pork dish thingy.  No idea what it was.  Well, that's not entirely true, I do know it was delicious.

Sayonara