Our Dinner Invitations

Five Story Pagoda at Horyu-ji

Satoki and his JR Train Set

Harada-san, Ryosuke-san, and Win at Horyu-ji

9 &13 March 2012

Now that we are getting ready to leave, our social life is heating up.  We've had four dinners in Japanese houses, which is a lot.  Only family and close friends are invited "home", so we are honored.  Once in the house, one is shown all the "special" things such as treasures from trips abroad, the small garden, the bonsai, and always, the photographs.  We didn't bring ours, which we've regretted, though we're not really sure if guests should show photos or focus on admiring the ones they are shown.  There is a kind of cozy intimacy "at home" that is charming and makes us want to cry.  In Japan, "how" you are depends on "where" you are.  Our issue, of deciding "how we really feel", and how and whether to express that seems to be a less conflicted matter (we think; we don't know).

One of our invitations was to visit one of my students in Nara, Japan's capitol city before 794CE.  While there we visited his favorite temple, Horyuji, a vast and peaceful place, bult in about 607CE, and dedicated to the life of Prince Shotoku who was one of the early advocates of Buddhism in Japan.  It may, or may not, have burned down in 670CE, but has stood since that time, giving it some claim to the title of the oldest wooden structure in the world.

Love to all,