This september, I was in Japan for the first time in my life. I had planned the trip beforehand from Belgium for my family of 3 daughers, my husband and myself.
I couldn’t imagine before how big and crowded the cities of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka were. In these big cities people almost ignore you completely as you are there as a tourist. They feel self-centred, maybe because of the huge pressure that lies on them to work a lot, having little time to relax and not having so much space for connection with people other than at their workplace…?
In the region of Asuka (the old heart of Japan) it felt as coming home.
There I had the most wonderful connections: with nature, culture and most importantly the Japanse people as they are in purity.
I want to share a bit of my story of the journey in Asuka. There in nature you see all kinds of tombs, shrines and massive rocks in the ground. It really is so special. They seem like living places and beings from another time in history.
The first heartcentered encouter we had was when we walked from Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb (see photo) to our car. There was a group gardening there with young people with disabilities. One man from the group was so happy to see us that he shook our hands with great spontaneity and a big smile on his face. It was such a heartfelt moment because we all felt suddently happy and very welcome to be there. Afterwards the leader of group took the man with him as he felt a little bit embarassed. Nevertheless: the joy was there and is still in my heart.
A second really touching moment was in the quest for the smiling Kame-ishi (Turtle rock, see photo).
On the way to turtle rock, we saw Oni no Setchin (the Devil’s toilet, see photo) and wanted to stop the car to look at his special megalith structure and also at the other part of it, Oni no Manaita (Devil’s Chopping Board, see photo). I got out the car and went to walk there to look for a parking place. I saw a group of men who were working on the hill with their pitchfork in their hands used for working on the land.
They saw me, crossed me, smiled and asked me in Japanese if I wanted to help them work on the hill nearby. It was very funny, they just gave me the tool to work and smiled at me. It was a kind of joke and there was again a spontaneous connection between us. I felt really welcome again on this special spot on the earth surface.
It made me more trusting in the real wealth that nature gives us continually and how important it is for us, as humans, to really connect again to what is there in front of our eyes and to share our natural abundance (a smile, a handshake…) with other people.
By An Pintelon
