Around the world in 106 days: Japan Day 1- Yokohama and Kamakura

Hello Everyone! I am sad to say my Japan adventure is over, and today I have class. BUT, were two days away from China J

Jan 27^th. 2013

Early in the morning we woke up and ate a good breakfast, after I had to go meet up with my class that I had a field lab for. Our professor just gave us an update on when we might be cleared to leave the ship. Me and friends then came to my room to relax while we waited and then found out that there was a band playing at the port as we pulled in. Basically the "Yokohama Band" played as the boat docked and they welcomed us into the port. The morning went pretty slow because the whole ship has to be cleared before Immigration, which was sad because we could see Japan but we had to wait to touch it for 5 hours. Lunch was allowed for everyone going onto a field lab, so me and Cindy went to lunch. But after Lunchtime we were allowed to walk out into the terminal to get our passport and head through Immigration.

We had to wait until 1300 to board our bus and head to Kamakura. One on the bus we got to wait for the slackers to get on. In Japan they drive on the opposite side of the road, so riding around town was weird because you think you're going to turn one way but you turn the other. Kamakura was beautiful, for the most part it is full of many small streets, not many big buildings and was a largely religious town. It was really great to have this be the first place we went to because it wasn't just a big city, there was a lot more "small town culture". In the main part of this small area there is the Kenchō-ji Zen Buddhist temple. This is the largest temple in Kamakura and is one of the most famous is Japan. Before my classes I knew very little about Buddhism, I had a very textbook view on it and I associated it with things like "peace" and "awakening" I really never knew why people might go into practicing Buddhism or what it actually meant to be a Buddhist. Also living in the USA, it is very uncommon to see Buddhism practiced (in fact I had never seen it). So being in places and constantly seeing Buddhist statues was kind of fun to point out and see. But of course the biggest religion we saw was Shintoism, which I will talk more about another day since we saw more of that later. Basically going to this temple really opened my eyes and gave me a new view on Buddhism and what it means to be Buddhist.

We got off the bus around 2 and headed into the gated area of the temple. In this plot of land there were many buildings which held statues and areas to meditate. The buildings held statues of Buddha and many paintings and beautiful tapestries hanging from the walls. These temples had been standing for hundreds of years, since about 1250. This temple is enriched with a lot of history and values keeping Japanese culture alive. We were greeted at the temple by a Monk. For some reason I always thought Buddhist monks wore orange robes, but I guess that was because 1) I had never actually seen one and 2) The media gives us this impression mostly. But for Zen Buddhism and at this temple the robes were brown and black. His head was shaven and he was wearing sandals with socks (It was cold). We all bowed as he approached and he smiled and told us to follow him to where we would be meditating (he spoke some English). In Japan, for almost anywhere you go you have to remove your shoes. There are two reasons for this 1) To keep the floor clean, and to keep their straw mats from getting ruined and 2) because the Japanese were very particular with doing things in a particular order and to keep tradition. They believe that there is an order to everything and you should follow that order.

So we entered the room where we would be meditating, in this room was many mats laid out for us to sit on. This room did not have many walls, so we were pretty well exposed to the outside and it Is winter in Japan, around 30 degrees outside. Thankfully I was prepared and had a heavy jacket and thick socks. We all went into the room, sat on our very thick mats and waited for the monks to give us instructions. They first taught us how to sit. You fold the mat so you can sit higher, then cross your legs (If you can double cross them it's suggested), straighten your back and then place your right hand on top of your left on your lap with thumbs touching. This is a standard meditation pose for Zen Buddhism. Going into the meditation I was ready to relax and become calm. But it turns out that even after sitting for 15 minutes it was impossible to relax. It was so weird because I thought I would go into the temple and feel a lot of peace. But the whole time I couldn't stop thinking. I think if I had gone alone it might have been different or if I wasn't really cold lol.

After the first session of sitting, we un-did our legs and they talked about ways to stay concentrated, such as counting your breaths and staring at the floor. To start the meditation he hit two loud sticks together 3 times and then a quiet bell twice. He also performed a ritual they do for training monks where you bend over while sitting so your lumped over, and then they smack you on the back 4 times with a stick to help your back. To show you want this, you place your hands together as though your praying, bow, bed over and they do it. During the third 15 minute session I tried it to be courageous. They hit your back pretty hard, but my back felt a lot better from sitting after lol. After about 1.5 hours of doing these mediations I was so tired from it lol. Something I always saw as very relaxing did not meet my expectations. Once we finished we ended with a Buddhist chant that went to the beat of a large drum. After we headed upstairs to a large room so people could ask questions. Some people asked really silly questions and some good ones. The one that I found most interesting was when they asked "Why did you decide to become a Monk?" Each of the three monks had such different answers. Monk One: Decided to become a monk because he was working for the government and wasn't happy, he felt think his life wasn't going anywhere so he became one to find answers to life and what was the best way to live. Monk Two: His father was a Monk so he said he was kind of born into it and knew since he was little he wanted to be one (In Mahayana Buddhism you can have families). Monk Three: When he was young his mom passed away from what he described as psychologically induced cancer, he was very torn up over it and so he became a Monk to understand suffering. I thought it was so interesting how they had such different backgrounds, it changed my view on Monks. But it also made me rethink how Monks live. The head Monk works with parents of suicide victims to help them through their suffering. Something I wouldn't have thought of before as a monk thing to do.

After Q and A we left the temple and headed to the "Downtown" area of Kamakura. Which is really not very industrialized, it's just larger buildings surrounded around a major shrine. Down one street there are many shops and places to eat. I hung out with a group of 4, Amee, Lilly, another girl and a Guy. We stopped at a sushi place, which no one spoke English and there was no pictures on the menu. It was a little scary, and two of the people left because they were nervous and didn't want to pay the price. We stayed though and had quite the adventure. It was a very small place to we sat at the counter right in front of where they made the sushi. Lilly helped me chose mine because I wanted tuna or salmon since I am not a fan of other fish. It was so neat trying to explain what we wanted. Through all of it though he was so friendly and helpful. I feel like in America a lot of people might not have been so understanding with a language barrier. But we did it! He knew very little English but we figured it out. we got our sushi and they gave us free Miso soup! It was amazing! I am not a big sushi person but the experience was amazing for a first night in Japan and I got to meet a new friend. After dinner we ran into an ice cream shop and enjoyed ice cream. It was a great first day in Japan! I got back on the ship at 9, was exhausted. We were planning on going out for drinks for a friend's birthday but because she was too we all hung out and called it a night since we had early plans to go to Tokyo the next day. That night I packed my large backpack and got ready for the crazy next day ahead.