Japan – Week 10

Our tenth week is underway, and by the time I post this, we’ll only have four and a half weeks left here in Japan. Y’all will have to bear with me on this one. In a day and age of social media, it’s easy to present life and travels as all sunshine and rainbows. Although I wrote these thoughts in one night, these contemplations have been going on in my head for a while. I wrote them down to get them out of my head, and intended on deleting them later and not including them in the post. But I decided it’s important to include them in this diary of our travels because the thoughts are real. Fun experiences and pictures, but lots of contemplation and self-reflection took place this week. Mostly I’ve kept this blog to travel related things, but I think the thought processes that occur while traveling are important too.

I’m always hesitant to include thoughts like this, because in no way do I want to seem ungrateful for my situation. I don’t like being a whiner. I’m an expat in Japan, with a hard working husband paying the bills, and we’re living here for free. While I’m very grateful and blessed to have this experience and opportunity in Japan, I’ll be completely honest and say I have many days where I’m just ready to be onto the next stage in our life (New Mexico). I think Derrick’s there too. We’ve enjoyed our time here, but it’s been a constant battle of trying to thoroughly enjoy everything Japan has to offer while a place in the back of my mind is somewhere in the future. There are many things I really love about Japan, but I’ve learned that it’s just not for me. I’ve spent four months in Kenya for an internship and was working most of the time. Working kept me stimulated and challenged, and the time went by very quickly. Being unemployed while here in Japan is definitely a different experience. While most days are good, and I’m able to get out and do fun things with friends pretty regularly…my mind and soul ache for open spaces, nature, a warm people, and the comfort that only comes among a culture that you understand. I miss my dog, Hank, and I’m ready for a bit of normalcy and to stay in one place for a while. Big kudos to military and navy families that do this All. The. Time. I don’t think I could do it!

For almost a year now, Derrick and I have been in a constant state of transition. I graduated with my Masters Degree, Derrick and I got married and spent a month in New Zealand, we packed up all of our belongings and shipped them to New Mexico in preparation for our relocation after Japan, and then we packed what clothes we had left and came overseas. I’m not used to wanting normalcy and routine. I’ve often wondered if my nomad-like desires are a phase or if I’ll have itchy feet the rest of my life, so it’s an unusual feeling…. this desire to have our own real home and plant roots. I guess we’ll see if it sticks around.

It’s been a great learning experience to start a marriage abroad. My Dad asked me about this, and fortunately, neither Derrick or I have any other experiences with marriage to compare it to, so this just seems normal for us. Traveling to a foreign country as a couple for an extended period of time exposes you to a number of challenges that might not present themselves otherwise, and honestly, I’d definitely recommend it. Derrick and I are each others’ only support system here, and making this unusual life work for four months while saving up money and working toward our next dream has been strengthening for our relationship. We’ve learned a lot about each other and ourselves. I’m thankful every day and proud to have a husband that’s so hard-working and ambitious toward our “big picture”, our dream of starting a farm and a life in New Mexico. I’m also thankful for a husband who’s so open minded and willing to roll with the punches. I’ve kept him sane as he works his tail off at the shipyard, and his unending optimism and smiling face have kept me sane as well 😉

An extended time “in transition” has been a lesson in itself. I mean this for us as a couple and for myself as an individual. My Dad, jokingly, likes to tell people that I’m homeless. It doesn’t bother me in the least, and really, it’s not untrue. We don’t have a home in the states, and we’re not residents of Japan. We didn’t know for sure if we were coming to Japan until about a month before we left. When we officially got Derricks orders, we decided it offered us the opportunity we’d been waiting for. For about five years now, we’ve been dreaming of starting a farm/community with our dear friends Zack and Jolin. We moved out of our rental in WA and reduced our monthly expenses so we could put as much into savings as possible over the next five months. So… although technically, we are homeless, I prefer the phrase “in transition” 🙂 Neither of us have jobs lined up in New Mexico yet, nor have we found housing. It’s kind of a Hail Mary once we leave Japan and Derrick puts his notice in at the Shipyard. We’ll either sink or swim, but I have full confidence that we’ll both swim 🙂 In the last ten months, we’ve learned to just be okay with the unknown and embrace it. It’s harder to do than I thought it would be, but I’ve learned that international travel is much more enjoyable once you’re capable of embracing and enjoying “whatever happens around you”. In life in general, it’s also hard to beat the exhilaration and freedom that comes from saying “Let’s just do it!” to whatever crazy dreams you have. By now, Derrick and I have each been through enough to learn that the stars always align and everything works out as long as you keep chugging along and remember what’s important.

::Big sigh:: It feels go to have all that down and out of my brain. Thanks for getting through that 🙂 The good news is, the next four weeks are going to be awesome but will probably fly by. My baby sister gets here in FOUR days!! I can’t wait to see her and I can’t wait for our adventures around Japan. We’ll be visiting Tokyo, Nara, Osaka and Kyoto! This weekend is also Derricks last weekend of working twelves (hooray!!) – so we’re finally going to get some time to see Japan together. We’ve scheduled a weekend to go see Hiroshima and Kyoto, another weekend to go stay a night at an Onsen Roykan, and are trying to plan a deep sea fishing trip for our last weekend here. So things are looking up, and as I said before, they’re not all bad. I just get in a slump sometimes. Anyway, NOW, onto the events and goings-on of this week….

Nokogiriyama and Nihon-ji Temple, Chiba

The day after writing the slightly depressing intro to this blog post, Shelley and I got out of town for a hike and adventure to Mt. Nokogiri-yama to see the Nihon-ji Temple and the Diabutsu (stone Buddha) there. We both had been struggling a bit this week with our brains/applying for jobs/pondering what the hell we’re doing in life – so getting out of the city, into nature, and some exercise was just what we needed!

From Yokosuka, you can get to Mt. Nokogiri-yama two ways. You can take a train all the way around Tokyo Bay to the Chiba peninsula – this takes about 4.5 hours. Alternatively, you can take a 20 minute train to Kurihama, and then catch a 40-minute ferry across Tokyo Bay straight to Kanaya and walk about 20 minute to the base of Mt. Nokogiri-yama. This trip is about 1.5 hours. We opted for the ferry route. The ferry was a lot like the Bremerton/Bainbridge – Seattle ferry but a lot less crowded. It had a snack bar, a nice lounge with couches and dining areas, and open observation decks to enjoy the ride. The weather was a little hazy/smoggy, but really nice, so we sat outside.

From the Ferry we walked to the Ropeway (Gondola) that took us 2,200 feet up. Aside from the haze, it offered great views of Tokyo bay and the surrounding forest of Mt. Nokogiri.

Despite taking the Gondola up, there were still a lot of stairs involved to get around the park and Temple to see the sights. Over the whole day, we covered about 10 miles – a great workout, for sure! Mt. Nokogiri served as a stone quarry during the Edo Period (1603-1868). In the second picture below, you can see a little person standing in the center of the photo to help provide scale for the massive excavation of this spot.

The Nihon-ji temple complex is around 1,300 years old. Below is the “Hundred-Shaku Kwan-non (Kannon)”. This was carved 1960-1966 to memorialize the fallen soldiers from WWII. Shaku is an old Japanese standard of measurement, Kannon stands about 100 feet tall.

Oh look…. more stairs to climb:

We climbed from the Kannon statue up to the Ruriko Observatory. The platform I’m standing on is called “Jigoku-nozoki” and translates into: “Peering into hell”. I’m not sure how this name originated, but I definitely do not picture hell this way 🙂 Someone with a fear of heights must have named it, ha!

Spread around Mt. Nokogiri-yama are the 1,500 Arhat sculptures. An Arhat is a Buddhist apprentice who has achieved enlightenment or ‘Nirvana’. Between 1779 and 1798, a master artisan named Ningoro Eirei Ono and his 27 apprentices carved 1,553 stone Arhats. They are all unique, each one depicting the spirit of eternal benevolence, and looking at all their different facial expressions and characteristics is really neat and humbling. During the Meiji era (1868-1912) an anti-Buddist movement took place and many Buddhist statues, structures and temples were destroyed, including many of these. In the pictures, you can see that many have been beheaded, crushed, or defaced. Restoration of these artifacts and holy places continue to take place, but is slow-going.

More stairs…. these ones are going down, but we’ll have to take them back up!

The Nihon-ji temple is home to Japans largest Diabutsu (Buddha statue). Built in the 1700’s (I couldn’t find a more precise date) the structure represents Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of healing and medicine. It stands at 31 meters tall (101 feet), and sustained some damage from an earthquake but was restored in 1966, and has had restoration work done to repair damage from erosion and neglect since its creation.

A view from Mt. Nokogiriyama and some photos of temple halls and structures. I’m sorry I don’t have more information on the structures – the signs were all in Japanese so I’m not quite sure their exact purpose or history.

Yay, stairs….

More Arhats along the paths:

Did I mention there were a lot of stairs?…

Some of the remaining 1500 Arhats:

Hey, look! Stairs!

I never got tire of inspecting their little faces and features. Some look so happy, some serene, some in pain or sad… It was a bit eerie, but very spiritual.

What do you know… more stairs to go up!

We love stairs… don’t mind if I do!

Who needs a stairmaster?

Some pretty flowers along the road to make up for shaky jello legs 🙂

This week we also went out to a Chiis for dinner, ate at an italian restaurant with Noah and Shelley one night, and I spent a day in Yokohama with my friend Asuka who showed me around her town a bit more. My week 11 blog post for next week will probably be a bit delayed. It’s surprising how time consuming blogging is, and I’m going to wait until after Courtney leaves to get caught back up. Sorry! I hope everyone has a great week, and we miss and love you guys! Thank you for following our trip!