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Internet Access - October 3, 2007

We go out anywhere today. Instead we were waiting for the internet guy to come and install a modem. He finally came, and so now we are happy that we have internet access. No more need to carry my computer through Tokyo to get online.

Roppongi

After visiting Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Shrine, we decided to head to a neighborhood called Roppongi. It was basically two main streets that met at a corner. There were a lot of bars and clubs along the streets, and that is mainly what the neighborhood is known for. We went a bit early, before the sun went down, and on a Tuesday on top of that, so although there were a lot of people on the street still, I don’t think that it was the same vibe that the neighborhood is famous for. In fact, one of our friends told us that he went out there one night, but he felt that it was dirty. It seems that Roppongi is the neighborhood that Westerners go out to party, and all the bad stuff that comes along with that (like drunk people fighting).

Down the main street, we could see the Tokyo Tower, which is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in France, except painted red. It was quite underwhelming for me to come to Tokyo and see a copy of the Eiffel Tower. There wasn’t much that excited us about being here, but at least it is one more thing that we could cross off our list.

Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine– October 2, 2007

On our first day of touring Tokyo, we went several places, including Harajuku. While we passed by Harajuku, we noticed that we were walking right past Yoyogi Park, but we decided to not go into the park, since we had already walked so much that day, and we were on a mission to go somewhere else (Shibuya). Today, we decided that we would finally go to Yoyogi Park to see the Meiji Shrine.

When we got there, around the corner from Harajuku station, the first thing that we saw was the large wooden gate surrounded by the leaves and branches of large trees. Walking through the gate, the long path we took was quiet and peaceful. We passed over a couple of small bridges that passed over small creeks, as well as a wall that was covered by lanterns before getting to the Meiji Shrine.

Before entering the gates of the shrine, there was chozuya where the more religious would rinse their hands or drink the purifying water. We then walked through the gates, and into the main square of the shrine. It was much smaller than the red Senso-ji temple. However, that is the reason that I liked it more. Walking through Yoyogi Park, it was like walking through all the trees, and finally coming to a beautiful spot, hidden deep in the woods. There weren’t as many people here, either, which kept the grounds quiet, and maintained a peaceful environment (though, certainly, there were enough people to realize that it was a tourist attraction). I felt like I could sit there all day, and relax, and let the vibe soak in.

Before we walked through the main gate of the shrine, Paola remarked that it would be great if she could see a wedding take place there, and take photos. As luck would have it, there was, in fact, a wedding taking place as we were there. It was conducted in a traditional Japanese style, which made it seem like we were seeing something special. The procession came out of a smaller building where I imagine some sort of private ceremony took place, and came right across the open square in the center of the grounds. It was lead by a Shinto priest and some of his assistants, who were then followed by the bride and groom, and their guests. The procession was led through the courtyard, then in towards the shrine, and then to a private space to the left. Paola got many photos of the whole event, but my camera battery died, so… Again, I was jealous.

New Videos

---TO SEE ANY BLOGS THAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED, CLICK THE MONTHS TO THE RIGHT------

I have uploaded two videos, one of the Gojo Shrine, and the other of the Tosho-gu Shrine. To see them, you have to go to my website at:

http://www.george.tsouris.net/videos.htm

If you do cannot see them, you have to download the Quicktime player from the Apple website. It is safe to download, and should be easy to install.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Buddhism and Shinto

Someone asked what the difference is between a Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist Temple. Perhaps I am very under qualified to answer this question, but I will give my response.

One way to begin is to give some standard textbook definitions of Shinto and Buddhism. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. It goes back to the beginnings of Japan (some two thousand years, probably). It is not a religion practiced anywhere in the world outside of the Japanese people. My own understanding is that it is a religion of nature and ancestor worship.

Buddhism is a religion that goes back some 2500 years, and started in India. It might actually be thought of as an off-shoot of Hindu, in that its founder, Siddhartha Gautama used Hindu ideas as a foundation, then took them a few steps further (sort of how like Christianity is an off-shoot of Judaism, where Jesus used Judaism as a foundation, then went a few steps further). After several hundred years, Buddhism made its way into China, and several hundred years after that, made its way into Japan (somewhere around the year 600).

Unlike Shinto, which has had a constant presence in Japan, Buddhism has had its ebbs and flows through Japanese history. Some Shoguns persecuted the Buddhist priests as preaching a foreign religion, and thus subjecting Japan to foreign influence. Other Shoguns used Buddhism as a sort of government control, and forced all citizens to register with the local Buddhist temples. Now where do the two religions stand?

Before answering that question, we might consider how that question arises. We come from the West. In the West, we make demarcations between religions, like Christianity and Islam, or Judaism and Hindu; one cannot be a Christian, and a Muslim, nor can one be a Jew and a Hindu. Even more, we make demarcations within major religions; one cannot be both Catholic and Baptist. I even remember someone telling me that a specific sect called Jews for Jesus were a contradiction in terms, and, in fact, were neither Jews nor Christian. Even if one looks back in history, there are wars fought between leaders of different Christians and Muslims, Muslims and Jews, Muslims and Hindu, and again, even within a major religion, such as between Protestants and Catholics. It is with this background that we ask the question, “What is the difference between a Shinto shrine, and a Buddhist temple?”

As far as I can tell, the question is not so clear-cut here in Japan. That is, such a question makes sense to us Westerners, but it does not make as much sense in Japan. I read two things that might illustrate this point. It was said in one book that Japanese people are born Shinto, marry as Christians, and die as Buddhists. Another book said something like 90 percent of the Japanese consider themselves practitioners of Shinto, while 80 percent consider themselves Buddhist, and 70 percent consider themselves Christian (I might have gotten the numbers mixed up, but the point is still made). And to top that off, up until the end of World War II, many Japanese even saw the Emperor as a living god (which isn’t really a Shinto or Buddhist belief, but a different sort of religion all together, one which has had implications throughout Japanese history).

Furthermore, having walked around some of these temples and shrines, one sees some interesting features. The largest shrine that we visited, the Senso-ji Shrine, had gods of thunder, and lightning, and such outside the gates, and within, as if protecting the shrine. Once inside the grounds, beside these gods, one sees statues of Buddha in several different forms. Is this to mean that there are two different religions represented in Senso-ji? I don’t think so. I think, rather, where the Westerner sees different religions as mutually exclusive to each other, in Japan there is no such mutual exclusivity. No one here has to draw a line in the sand and proclaim that this is what I believe, and anything beyond is wrong.

One progressive Westerner might say that this is what he might believe, that all religions have their place, and everyone should be able to believe what he wants. However, no matter how progressive any Westerner might claim to be, I have never met a Christian-Muslim-Jew; in fact, when a Westerner typically says that he is Christian (or Muslim, or Jewish), even if he does think himself to be progressive, he does fundamentally mean that he is NOT a Muslim or a Jew (or vice versa).

It, thus, seems to me that there is a demarcation between religions in Western eyes that is lacking in the Japanese mindset. Thus, it seems to me that one way of approaching a description of the difference between a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine is completely wrongheaded.

However, there is a different way to approaching the difference between a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine, and that is from a purely physical descriptive viewpoint. In this case, one would simply look for physical differences in the architecture, layout, and components of each to try to come up with a difference. That said, I have not studied them enough to be able to tell a structural difference, since they both seem to house some form of a Buddha, have incense, and are decorated in a similar manner. But the untrained eye may not be able to tell the difference between some Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Bottecelli; nor may the untrained ear tell the difference between Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. In the same way, I don’t think that I have yet developed the sense to tell the physical descriptive difference between a Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine.

Positive praise

At my old teaching position in New York, it was once in a blue moon that I got praised by my supervisors, or people in a higher position. Being here only a couple of weeks, I have gotten a lot of praise. Perhaps it is because the position is one lower than my old one, and thus easier than my old job, but at my old job, I was very rarely the recipient of praise.

The administrative staff supervisor, Kari, told me that I am doing great, and that some people were saying that they wanted to take classes with me. One student even asked me when I would be there so that she could schedule classes with me. Hearing that felt good. In fact, Haruko, the administrative staff at Mizuhodai (my branch office), apologized for making my schedule so busy today because many people had requested to take a class with me. I suppose that it’s true when they say that one is punished for doing a good job. All the same, it does feel good to get the praise that I am getting at work.