Its been about 3 1/2 months now, 7000 miles away from all that I was used to. Two years ago I was living a young wild, counter-culture life in California. I noticed through all my times in the states none compared to the adventure of the unknown. When you travel in the United States you can paint for yourself a mental picture at least of what your encounters might entail before you start an exploration. When your in a foreign land, you have no idea what the next 2km might even reveal. This is how I felt when I first arrived in Japan. November 11th, I passed customs, and immigrations into a country that is full of heritage, beautiful archectecture, and mountains. Moreover, Japan is the second most populated country in the world. I will be living in Japan unitil November 2008, at which time I will leave. So far I have seen 40 states, Mexico, South America, Yucatan Peninsula, the Galapagos Islands, and now Japan.
Life in Japan is centered around respect, voice, and simplicity. Not only for mankind, but for oneself. There is bearly any sign of Judaism in Japan, and getting to the available shuls are very time-consuming. I celebrate holidays within my own home with my wife Rachel. My time here will go by very fast, this is why I think it is important to stop and reflect on what is going on around me, to better appreciate these times away from ‘normal,’ Americanized society. Being in Japan is like one big transcendental state of consciousness that excludes how I used to carry myself in the U.S. The Japanese make available many places to which one can just stop, and relax. Very good examples of this are Yokohama park, Kamakura, the Meiji shrine, and temples in Nikko. All I have been to exept Kamakura and Nikko. In Nikko, houses some of the most famous temples notibly the “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,” temple. Today I went to the Meiji shrine, which is housed in a tightly nestled wooded area near Harajuku in Yoyogi-koen. Here I found many traditional shinto dances that symbolized this year, the year of the dog.
No matter where in the world you find yourself, your soul carries on. Being Jewish and religious doesnt mean losing your mind through the melodic hum of chassidic davening. Being Jewish and the desire to keep a fiery religious body, mind and spirit means that you are driven to become more than which you already are. It should exemplify that the ‘Jewishness,’ carries within the eternal fire within oneself.
Just a helpful reminder, that no matter where your at, or what your doing your Jewish heart will always make a path for you to connect from this world to the next