Monthly Archives: July 2015

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

Zen meditation experience at Renshouji temple

Buddha statue

Day of activity: July 9th 2015

Hello, my name is Arno. I’m from Belgium, and today I want to talk about my experience with today’s zen buddhist meditation.

We arrived yesterday at the second town: Uda. This place is absolutely stunning, but the complete opposite from major cities such as Osaka, last week’s city. On day one, we went to a local Zen Buddhist temple near a small village. I was surprised at how young the head priest looked (maybe it was his bald head).

First came an exciting explanation about what posture to take and how he would assist us in staying focused… by smacking us with a long stick. It was a very unique experience: you have to thank the priest for the smack you are about to recieve, and thank him again afterwards. It was a lot of fun (although I had difficulties with leg cramps and nose itches, because I couldn’t move).

Afterwards we could ask questions to the priest. This was the most interesting part for me. It’s nice to hear the opinion of people with an entirely different way of thinking and culture, such as today’s priest. People asked questions about earthly desires (such as love), the religion itself, and his opinion on other religions. I wanted to ask so much more, but alas, time was up.

Today was very interesting! I’m Looking forward to the next zen buddhist meditation later this week.

Arno Ceriez (Belgium)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Suita City

Arigato Event day in Suita (2015)

Day of activity: July 7th 2015

Today was the day which we had prepared for all week, the day of the Arigato event. We started the day by recieving information about the event and how it would be done. After the briefing we rehersed the song ‘Tomorrow’ and the dances we were going to perform, which went really well. Our previous performances were not that good, but it seemed like when push comes to shove, everyone improved a ton. After that we ate lunch. We made a kind of onigiri “burger”. It was two “buns” made of rice with different toppings in between and a nori plate wrapped around the whole thing. It tasted amazing. Then we rehersed a little more, before we got a visit from a bunch of kids. Playing with the kids was really fun, although they were pretty shy. I played a lot with one particular kid, and even though he didn’t talk at all, we still managed to make an awesome paper plane together. After we said our goodbyes to the kids we made the final preperations before the Arigato event. Then, at around 18:30, it started. I was kind of nervous before the event, since I were going to read my thank you card in front of my host mother, but it went really well. Everyone danced and sang really well, and it was great. I also achieved my goal of making my host mother cry. After the event we had a potluck party, where everyone’s host families brought food that we all shared. There was a lot of delicious food there, and I probably ate way too much. During the meal we got a visit from some really awesome traditional japanese dancers. They were really cool, and us World Campus Japan paricipants actually got to dance with them.

This was an amazing day, but also an emotional one. This was our last big experience with our family, and for me it just made it harder to leave. Tomorrow we are travelling to Nara, for a new house and a new family. I hope they are as good as the one I had in Suita.

Tor Holmen (Norway)