Orientation

Today, having actually got some sleep, the OMF guys risked a little more content with us. The highlights of the day began with breakfast (which, if you remember, not everyone made it to. But one person did. She is very good.), and the very good news that milk and cereal in Japan are highly similar to milk and cereal in England! Hurrah!

We had a language session - let it be known that Japanese is really, really hard. We also learned some cultural info, and spent the rest of the day finding ourselves being inadvertently offensive. Jen is feeling very contrite, having upset Mark by sticking her chopsticks upright in her rice - apparently a gesture very similar is used at Japanese funerals...

In the afternoon we visited a Buddhist temple, Shinto shrine and Pagoda - all on the same site. It was surrounded by developments and to get there you walked through a huge red an gold gate with an enormous paper lantern hanging down from the centre, down a long street lined with stalls selling hundreds of souvenirs, and through another gate. It was fascinating to see the mingling of curious tourists and Japanese visitors performing the various rituals quite sincerely. There is incense by the entrance that is supposed fto purify before going into the temple. There are also stalls with walls lined with small wooden drawers, with a Japanese character printed on each one. You put a coin in a box, shake the box to draw out a stick with a character on it, and take a fortune sheet from the corresponding drawer. If it`s bad news, the paper is folded and tied onto a rack at the side - this is the only way to get rid of it.

Outside, in front of the Shinto shrine, we saw a new car being blessed. It had been parked perpendicular to the entrance, and its doors and boot had all been opened. The two owners stood to one side, and bowed their heads as a priest (I assume) dressed in a sky blue kimono read a chant or prayer from a large sheet. Then he bowed several times, and moved around the car, throwing confetti over it. This is supposed to guard against accidents. Unfortunately, as he was finishing, another car was manouvring in for the next blessing, and just pranged the rear bumper slightly as it drew in. Actually that last part is completely fabricated, sorry (or sumimasen, a magical word that covers all manner of offences here!)...

We found the visit spectacular but sad... the buildings are so impressive, and the ways contrived of gaining access to the assistance and favour of the gods are many and varied but according to the Bible, ultimately ineffective. Greatly encouraging though to remember Hebrews 4...

Sorry if these blogs are a bit long, highly likely to become briefer and more sporadic as we go on!