Well, Bob has been pressuring me to write something for the blog. It is hard to define this experience in Japan. There are so many frames of reference that are special plus experiences that have made being here well worth while. Probably one of the most special things has been the helpfulness and friendliness of the people. On several occasions when we have needed information or some kind of help it would be only moments before someone has come to our aid. It seems as if the people are eager to be of assistance.
Another part of this has been experience with the adolescents here. There are numerous occasions when they practically invade the sites we are visiting. Most of them are in uniform and the uniforms vary from school to school as well as by age group. We have had the interesting experience of being "interviewed" by several of the adolescents. They were practicing their English so they would ask us questions from their notebooks. Often they would stumble on a pronunciation but basically understood not only their questions but our answers. Being surrounded by six to ten youths, laughing with one another during this time was delightful. Bob seems to be a particular person chosen but most all of us have had this experience. Often school children will walk past and say "hello", yes in English. Their warm smiles and bright eyes have been joyful to experience.
Today we got onto a train to Nara to see the largest Buddha in the world, I think. The train was the local that had about 12 stops. One of the conductors came to us after about five stops and told us we could get off and catch the express in two minutes just across the platform, about 30 feet away. This cut our time in half. This is an example of the helpfulness we have experienced.
I was watching a little boy, I would guess four years old, apparently with his grandmother. He looked like he was on the train for the first time. I thought he was really cute and tried to take a picture of him. When he saw my camera he turned his face away. No matter what I did, he kept turning his face away. Even his grandmother could not encourage him to look at me. Frustrated with my attempt, I finally stopped trying.
I am amazed by the size of the temples. Not only are the grounds often immense, big enough for a major league baseball stadium to fit inside the grounds, but the height and the necessity of support structure for enormous weight. The roofs were often of plant like material or reeds, or they would be tiles. The tiles are heavy so the supports have to bear enormous amounts of weight for very long periods of time. Today at the temple they had a piece of one of the supports laid out. It was about 30 inches thick but cut with a groove that was about two inches into the wood. To add support they could cut 2x8 inch board, steam them to curve slightly and nail them with huge spikes to the main trunk. Then as the boards were added they would finally bind the whole thing by several bands so that the thickness increased about a third for additional support. Very clever thinking.
The huge statues were hand carved. Beautiful work. The facial and body expressions were powerful and so very precise.
There is still much that could be said. I think I have said enough for today. Best wishes to all. We will be home soon. Keep Emily in mind. No new news yet but it still hurts to know she is struggling with life. Ted
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