One of my friends made me a book of devos for my time in Japan, and I thought that the one for today was very appropriate. It was about failures. I know that sounds harsh, but with being in a new culture, mistakes are inevitable. Sometimes it’s been hard to figure out how to flush a toilet or how to communicate with others who speak a different language. I haven’t made any major mistakes, yet, though!

Today, we split into groups to wander around Tokyo with a guide. My group had a guide named Romiko; she was very nice and helpful.

First, we took the train to the National Museum of Japan. We spent most of our time there in the To-ji Temple special exhibit. The museum included a variety of art and other treasures primarily pertaining to Buddhist traditions and rituals. This exhibit was divided into four chapters. The first focused on a special ceremony called Goshuchinchi Mishiho. The ceremony requires many objects including a platform, trays, altar posts, and much more. Next was a chapter on esoteric Buddhist art. There were many tapestries, texts, and mandalas in this section.

The third and fourth chapters were more interesting to me. The third section was about the religious practices and history of the To-ji Temple. It was full of intricate masks depicting devas and old documents from the priests of the temple. Some statues emphasizing females were also in this area, which the museum noted as unique. There was a small gong and bronze cymbals, too.

Finally, the fourth section explored the world of mandalas. These mandalas are not what we normally think of. They have images of different deities on them in geometric patterns. The first mandala was cool because it was large and meant to go on an altar. A priest would toss a flower onto it to decide a person’s deity. This area was marked by fifteen statues. The museum noted that these statues were influenced by Hinduism because of the many heads and limbs on the deities. I thought that this was quite interesting how the two religions converged.

After we finished going through the museum, we spent some time in the gardens outside. The flowers and foliage were so pretty and green compared to the cold of home! We asked Romiko a lot of questions about Japan. Yes, they do have mosquitos, just not yet. And no, they don’t have “mean” bugs like wasps.

Later, we got some ramen and dipping noodles for lunch. It was interesting to order food from a machine. We discovered that eating noodles the right way, by slurping them, is very messy, so Romiko gave us some bibs that the restaurant provided.

We rounded out the day by visiting Meiji Jingu. It was a very peaceful place, which was welcome after all the walking we did. I made a wish at the shrine and got a fortune. It was cool to be able to participate in a totally different belief system like that. There were two weddings going on while I was there, so I got to see a bit of what that ritual is like.

Overall, it was a fun and exhausting day. It was wonderful to explore Tokyo in such a personalized manner and learn how to get around on my own. I’ve been so excited to get involved in this different culture, and today I finally got to. I’m ready to do even more new things in the next few weeks!