Kiyomizudera temple

Immediately after settling into my amazing hostel I walked up the street to Kiyozumidera Temple.

It was close to closing and over run with young school children. So I decided not to pay to enter but just walk around the area before the temple.

There was a large tower facing an arch.

In front of the tower facing the arch were small stone towers with lantern like tops. I felt inside one and discovered pebbles. So I placed a marble in with them. 

So mom can look at this.

And some else placing a pebble will find her.

Afterward I walked down some of the old streets of Kyoto.

Gorgeous snail. I pet it.

Came across a young girl in traditional kimono.

A beautiful breaking I the cloudy sky means time for dinner.

 Soba

And a satisfied walk home.

Kyoto

I arrived to Kyoto early. So I went to a coffee shop and ordered and paid successfully in Japanese for this geek tea latte.

The youth hostel I am staying in here is ridiculously beautiful and only $34 a night  with a full western breakfast for $3. It's all wood. It smells amazing! There are only myself and one other Japanese man here. There are to be 2 more women tomorrow. It's very quite and peaceful on a side street right in the Gion district (geisha county). 

Dining room/lounge. They put out go tea and cookies and some super salty thing. There is a small garden in he back, microwave and toaster.

Bathroom door to the right and family room straight. Gorgeous door! The owner told me that it was made from recycles wood more than 60 yrs old.

This is the room. Two bunks. Just me tonight.

In the morning meditation on the backyard porch by dripping water pool.

Kamakura cont....

After Zuisenji I went to another temple called Kenchoji.

In front they had this set up.

To the left were all these little ceramic bowls.

I donated a coin and put some of mom's ashes in the dish.

I then tossed it on the rock with all the others.

I strolled around and down a wooded path and found where they dump all the broken pieces and some other curious forms.

One of them is coming home with me if I don't break it.

There were Japanese letters written on this. Really beautiful.

More interesting stairs.

Now that's a whole lotta copper!

Mom will like it here too.

More about Kamakura can be seen here

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2012/04/29/environment/kamakuras-historic-flowering-garden/#.UadhB2Qayc3

kamakura

First day in Tokyo and I take a train out of the city to Kamakura to goto Zuisenji Temple and garden. I have to take 3 trains a bus and then walk. When I got off the bus I tagged along with 3 ladies that made me feel tall to navigate to the temple. Everyone here is so helpful and many speak some English.  Zuisenji was excavated and restored in 1970. I was born in 1970 so it seems like it serendipitously turned out perfect.
This is the entrance to the Zuisenji Temple. Ji means temple

This temple is tucked away in the mountains.

It was excavated and restored in 1970, which makes it a perfect spot for the first marble since that is the year I was born.

To the right of this main gate there is a small pool for cleansing your hands before entry.

This seemed like a perfect spot to place one at the bottom. If you look carefully for the red and green you can see it.

A few photos of the inside.

This tree is being braced up with other logs.

I really wanted to ring this bell.

For some reason in an area where the public were not allowed there were a huge number of women in traditional kimono. So beautiful.

This was a shrine where you put some change in the box and lit some incense. I snuck in some of mom's ashes here.

As I was walking away from  the temple I began to cry and feel a sense of loning and that I was leaving my mom behind. I wanted to go back and get her but I knew she was in a beautiful place that she always wanted to see so who was I to not let her be. 

Safe and Successful Arrival

Wow they let me in! Haha Success!  The flight was long but there were many movies to watch for free! And time for me to finally do some research on this crazy island I am going to. Getting to my hostel was easy. The people at the hostel are very nice. I went out for dinner and that was a challenge not knowing any Japanese. So I just found an uncrowded place and struggled through it cause that's better than starving. And it was quite tasty too!

On my way......

OMG I can't believe I am going to Japan! I am so excited! If it wasn't for my mom's desire I'm not sure I would have this same adventurous courage. I am so grateful to her for giving me the strength and impetus. I start in Toyko for two nights, then Kyoto for 3, and then a temple in Mt Koya where I will get to meditate with monks and every morning they have a FIRE ceremony. So Cool!

Inspiring

I have received quite a few stories from people about how my mom touched their lives. The story below I think optimizes what I'd love to see the world do. Everyone helping everyone even just a little bit. Sometimes the smallest action on one person's part in collaboration with many others can have a profound effect on one persons life. I think of this as a stunning example and makes me so proud. It makes me want to be better at helping others. Just think of what a strangers smile or compliment does for you. Or a friends continual emotional support. This story really just opened up my chest.

Hi Jenna -

I'm glad that you were able to hack into your mom's email to get these address. This is the first I have heard of her passing. Although I don't know you - I am sending good thoughts your way as you settle into this new phase of your life and prepare for your travels. Thanks for sharing this update, and for the blog link with the attached video. I look forward to following your journey, and to helping support in whatever little way I can.

I never actually met your mother in person, so it was beautiful to see the video and learn more about her. Your mom and I got in contact in 2004, when I was in my early 20s. I am a lesbian who grew up in an abusive home, ran away to San Francisco when I was a teen, worked my way through college while mostly being homeless - and somehow during that time got appointed to public office and did a lot of social justice political work. Harvard learned about my story and recruited me to attend grad school there to get my masters in public policy. In 2004, I was thrilled and terrified that Harvard wanted me - but also facing the harsh realization that even getting into Harvard doesn't mean things were instantly okay. I was still just barely out of a homeless shelter, and had no family beyond the extended community that had taken me in. I couldn't afford a plane ticket to Boston, let alone even imagine how I would find somewhere to live and buy books, before financial aid kicked in a month after the semester started.

Despite all of that, I was determined to figure it out, as I know that going to Harvard would change my life and the potential and opportunities given to me to make my life of more use in public service. Despite the process being one of the most challenging and embarrassing in my life, I let friends start to fundraise for my expenses by sending emails around to their community - explaining my story and needs.

Somehow one of those emails made it out to your mother. (I'm still not sure how it got to her.) And she contacted me and sent a donation from her and a friend to help me get to school.

I truly always have been raised by a vast village community, and feel like my life's possibilities and responsibilities are intricately linked with the wonderful people who have supported me along the way. I always counted your mother as a treasured member of that long distance web, although we were never able to work out meeting up in person.

Your mom and I stayed in email contact through my grad school years and for a few years after that, as I moved to NYC and started the new phase of my career. She would write about her retirement and her move and how, when she was in Delaware, she wished she was closer to where you were.

My email history shows that we fell out of contact in 2008. I moved around a lot, and worked on the Obama campaign at the time, and fell behind on a lot of correspondence. I regret not continuing to be in contact. But I have always considered your mother a special person who is woven into the fabric of the life and values I have. The people who supported me going from a homeless shelter to Harvard literally changed so much about how I can exist and try to thrive and do good in this world. And I am always grateful that your mother reached out to a young woman she never really knew, and continued to stay in contact after that.

That's a long story, but I wanted to share it with you. Seeing the video about your mom fills out in my mind the story of how incredible of a person she was. And I feel ever more blessed to have had a bit of a path-crossing with her in life. I too was raised a bit in the Native American culture, so I will light a candle and burn some sage for your mother today.

Thanks for including me on this email, and all strong and good thoughts are being sent out your way.