Today was our trip to Hiroshima. Obviously it is a very sobering and educational experience but it was such an interesting day overall. We started the day early with breakfast at 7am and being on the skinkansen around 8:30. The ride to Hiroshima was about a 2 hour ride on the bullet train. I spent … Continue reading “An emotional day”

A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park Today we went to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. It was a really emotionally taxing day, but I think it was a really important thing to experience. We started the day by taking the Shinkansen to Hiroshima station and then bussing over to the … Continue reading “An emotional day”

I thought that today’s blog post would be super chill all the way through — we’re never that lucky, right? (Or unlucky, in my opinion!)

Another early morning today, heading towards a temple for some mediation! As a nice change of pace from the packed schedule of the previous day, we began the day with 2 Zazen mediation sessions. A monk taught us the practice of Zazen mediation, which involves sitting upright cross legged and in a focused stance. By … Continue reading “An emotional day”

I know on all of my other blogs, I tend to focus on food, but it does not feel right to do this on this day due to the experience we had. But to at least somewhat keep up with the bit, here are pictures of what I ate that day: On this day, we … Continue reading “An emotional day”

We started our day with a morning zazen meditation, which was led by a Buddhist monk. Secondly, we went to Sanjusangendo, a Buddhist temple known for having 1001 Buddhas. After that, we went back to the same area Kiyomizu-dera Temple was in and split into two groups. The first group, which I was in, went … Continue reading “An emotional day”

This day was the most hectic day of my entire life. We visited four distinct places: Kinkaku-ji Shrine, which is known for the golf leaf covering the building and the phoenix situated at the top; Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, which was a beautiful area filled to the brim with bamboo; Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which is a Buddhist temple … Continue reading “An emotional day”

So after our temple day, we had another early morning wake up. I got up at 7 and headed down for breakfast at 730am. I’m started to get used to the time zone which is cool but I kinda liked waking up that early. It was nice to have so much time to relax and … Continue reading “An emotional day”

Sanjūsangen-dō Buddhist Temple Today was another jam packed tourism day with our girl Yuko. The itinerary for the day included Zazen meditation in the morning, then we went to a Buddhist temple, then to a tea ceremony/tour of a popular Kyoto street, and then free time for lunch. This might have been my favorite day … Continue reading “An emotional day”

We started the day at the brink of dawn: 7:30 AM. We made our way to a nearby temple where we met a monk who taught us how to do Zazen Meditation. Though my posture was hideous and my body was in pain, the numbing effect of it really helped clear my mind. After two … Continue reading “An emotional day”