After more than forty years of travelling in body and mind, I finally stroll in the ‘land of the rising sun’. A pleasant stroll it is indeed, in pace with most of the locals, to whom the word ‘hurry’ seems to bear no meaning.
Politeness is their norm, a vibe of contentment fills the air. A blend of cleanliness, technology, organisation and efficiency, in balance with ‘enjoyment of a good time out’, culture, and an active appreciation of nature and the environment flows like water in this masterpiece of civilisation.
Japan is a role model for the formation of good social and cultural habits.
Two weeks on I rest in contemplation, templed and shrined out as I was churched and mosqued out in other countries, pondering at the ghostly image of the ‘A bomb dome’ in Hiroshima. Night has fallen, the orange light within its ruined walls a stark reminder of the fiery evil the atomic bomb has cast upon this city and its people who have now risen from the ashes, a new Hiroshima, a city of peace and prosperity.
I admire the world’s numerous ‘glorious’ places of worship for their architecture and physical beauty, though my soul struggles to connect with the divine, within the confinement of their walls.
The temple of truth, god and humanity, a seed sown with adverse intent, conveys a message of peace to the world and reveals it’s sacrosanct glory before my eyes, embodied in the ‘Dome’ and the people of Hiroshima and in thought, those of Nagasaki.