Day of activity: July 12^th 2015

Today we went to visit the elderly home ‘Murou en’!

The purpose was to interact with the elderly residents, overcome language barriers, and bring some variety into their day. I really enjoyed spending time with them, especially since I had never interacted with elderly Japanese people before. It was a little hard to converse to begin with, but it got a bit easier once we started collaborating on the paper collage we were making. It was a beautiful image of Mount Fuji.

They were very sweet, and I was very happy that they seemed to be happy about doing this activity with us. I wish we could have spent more time with them, especially when I saw how sad they were to see us leave…

I’m really glad that we did this activity!

Later, after visiting the retirement home we carried on to visit the Murou temple, where we were guided through the lower part. The guide was very knowledgeable, and I learned many interesting facts about the temple and aspects of japanese religion. The temple grounds were really beautiful! The trees were tall and green, and the stairs to the top took you through some of the forest. The walk to the top was very hot and tiring, but the view at the top was worth it! I will never forget this beautiful place.

Iselin Erikssen (Norway)

Day of activity: July 10th 2015

Today we went to Akame falls to have a ninja experience! I really enjoyed the time I spent as ninja. There was a big and beautiful natural park, with houses built in the ninja’s style, meaning with hidden doors and things like that. There were so many trees and a big waterfall.
We threw shurikens! I have never done it before, but it was really good. And it was the activity that I liked the most of all. We also did some climbing on a wall. It was very difficult because it was too slippery. But it was very fun. After that, we learned about other ninja activities, such as moving on ropes and walking on narrow planks. We wore ninja costumes of different colors the whole time. At the end, we got our ninja certificates 🙂 And we felt like real ninjas:)! It was a good day!

Tamara Djuraeva (Usbekistan)

Day of activity: July 9^th 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)