Journey with us...

Monday, January 5, 2009

Just Monkey Business..

For Katie's last day in town, we headed to Ray's and my favorite area of Kyoto, called Arashiyama.

It's a gorgeous part of town, sparsely populated, and has a beautiful river running through it. We love to come here to watch the heron and cranes on the river.

But today, we had other business, monkey business.

At the top of the mountain there is a monkey park. The monkeys aren't in cages- they kind of own the mountain, fence free. There is only one "cage" that humans can walk into if they want to feed the crazy beasts (monkeys get a bit aggressive when they're eating!!). Needless to say, it was an awesome experience, unrivaled by any other monkey parks I've been to (ummm, that would be none). My favorite part was watching them groom each other. They would sit in twos and one monkey would comb through the other monkey's hair while he literally would begin falling asleep. Hilarious!

Grooming time.

This is my favorite - HAHA!! Sorry it's sideways....

Been there, done that...

It's like a little dream come true, finally being able to see and touch the HUGE wind tower that looms at the far side of the lake from us. Some days Ray will perch on the lake's edge, eyes set on the distant tower, and count how many time it rotates- "Wow, it's really cookin' today," he'd say...

Well, with the access of a car (with Bob and Sanae), we drove to see the wind tower, and made our big boy's dream a reality. It was pretty cool to see. The tower alone cost 3 million, but it provides electricity for an entire community. Ray and I would like to work towards doing something like this (but on a MUCH smaller scale) for our own house someday. It just makes sense.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Looking at 2009 in Japan...

Our neighbors, Bob and Sanae spent the day with us, and took us up to a big temple near our house to share with us a ritual that nearly all Japanese people partake in, to bring in the New Year.

This is Ishiyamadera Temple. It's gorgeous, and nearly 1500 years old.

This man is tying his written prayer to a tree. In this Buddhist sect, there are many gods, and the Japanese people go to the temples at the beginning the new year to pray and make "wishes" for the coming year. The temples are usually packed...

Each year, the head religious officials pick a random number to represent the number of times the ceremonial bell must be rung to clear one of their sins. This year, each individual must ring the bell 108 times, to repent of their 108 sins...

This is a statue of a god. The people are touching the statue, and then wiping their bodies with the "spirit" of the god...

In order to make a prayer, light a candle, or even enter the temple, one must pay. This was an interesting object of discussion for Ray and I. People were paying on average 12 yen, or around $10 for each written prayer or ceremonial bell ringing. These were coins stuck into the side of an old building...

Needless to say, the experience was very interesting, cultural and eye opening. It was so good for us to see and compare rituals from our own country to this one. The differences are countless, but some similarities still stand. It made for good, deep conversations and a bit of prayer and reflection of our own....

New Years Hike...

Took Katie and Ray up above the lake today to one of my favorite hiking areas. Started out late in the day, so couldn't gain too much elevation, but the views were incredible and we even got a few flurries to float down on us. Nice sights...

Sunset was gorgeous...

Really? 2009!!!

Can it really be the 9th year of the 2000th year after Christ's birth. Whoa. Can't really believe it.

Though Ray and I didn't make it awake to see the clock strike midnight (can you say "old, borrring couple!!")... we had a really nice time at a New Years Eve gathering with his teammates. Check out the fun!

Ray WON BINGO!!! We tried to tell him it was beginners luck (this was his FIRST time playing bingo!!), but he said its the 'stash...