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
4 thoughts on “Where nature meets purity, spontaneity arises -By An Pintelon”
O Anne, I feel the genuine love and spontaneous happiness from the people of Asuka and understand so very well your reaction on that.
Thanks for sharing this abundance of happiness, which I feel ‘dripping’ from your words.
Thank you, Eva for your very nice reaction. It reflects to me back indeed the very profound abundance witch I felt there. Also the climate is so nurishing: lot’s of sun, lot’s of rain and very fertile grounds. If you dig deeper, you still see the continuous celebration of life, is this area. Also the very special vulcano mountain, Mount Fuji is very present as a pure light transmitter in the whole japanse land.
Great story. Along with my brother in Summer 2025 we also visited this town and we too felt warmly welcome and had a great cycle ride around many different sites. Those that had the same fascination as us greeted us with bewildered looks as if to say what brings you here and wow isn’t this just curiously fascinating and what’s it all about. Nice to see this post as a reminder of my trip there too. I felt this was one of my most treasured places to be other than in the mountains and valleys of rural Japan hiking, and dipping in Onsens. Appreciate your share. Wonderful places.
Dear Bazza, your experiences there were also very special as I can read.
What a good idea to to a cycle ride in this area. I think you feel even more connected by travelling that way than by car (as we did).
Indeed people still take in Asuka the time to connect with their eyes to strangers. In other parts of Japan they looked very often away. Happy that your holiday memories can strenghten by sharing my story on Sunbeings.