Cultural Day in Japan

Tuesday was a Cultural Day in Japan. Businesses were closed so we spent the day sight-seeing and eating! We ate a great breakfast at the hotel, took a little trip with a few Rotarians and Charlie to his French restaurant, Le Paumier, for lunch. We had an amazing 5 course meal… fried rice ball (Cha-han), seafood salad, fresh bread, noodles and chicken and then an amazing dessert. It was wonderful and we were all “stuffed”. They are definitely making sure we don’t go hungry while in Japan. After the wonderful meal, we took off to the Toyota Museum. We learned a lot about eco-friendly/hybrid cars.

We took off to Kogetsu In in the Le Paumier bus and headed towards the “hills”. These hills are gorgeous with Bamboo growing on the sides of them. To much to our surprise, Kogetsu In is an ancient temple. After washing our hands in the sacred water, we first visited the Shinto Shrine. We were wished for our safety and health during our trip to Japan. Then we went back to a Tyabudai (low) table and drank sacred water (not the water we washed our hands in) out of tiny bowls.
Just when we thought we were done, we got back in the bus and they took us higher into the hills to the actual ancient Buddist temple. Temples were built to be hidden, so there are really no good pictures of the outside. Inside we sat in a half Lotis postition and meditated for 3 minutes. Typically they meditate for 40, but frankly we just didn’t have the time nor would our legs/hips hold out for that long. After meditating we toured the temple. It was a very interesting and culturally entertaining visit.
The stories of our lives so far has been rush, rush, rush. We arrived at our next destination with not one minute to spare. The program and meal were amazing. Not one of us was hungry, but another 5 course meal was on our horizon. It included a nice salad with potatoes, fruit, salmon, fish, “meatloaf”, rice, and dessert.