First Guests

We had our first guests join us in Japan. Mom and Megan came to visit (that is why we took the holiday to Nara - read about it in the previous post). They had a layover in Osaka so we flew there to meet them and tour Kyoto for a couple days before coming back to Sapporo to show them around here.

The day they arrived, we checked into our hotel where we would be staying with them. Then we took a walk to Sanjusangen-do temple in Kyoto. This temple boasts 1001 Buddhas and 28 Deities. Constructed in the 12th and 13th century, it was stunning, and very busy compared to Nara. There are no photos allowed in the temple, lucky that my sneaky Japanese camera has a "museum" function that supresses flash and sound so I was able to sneak a couple of pics.



There was a beautiful garden outside and we were happy to see some of the early sakura blossoms while there.


From there we walked to a nearby and newer Buddhist temple. We arrived while the monks were praying and had the good fortune of walking around the ouside deck and listening to the monks chanting. Here is a photo of a couple of the monks leaving the building that is dressed in beautiful coloured flags blowing in the breeze. We watched one young monk rush out of prayer and drop his cell phone from the sleeve of his robe. It is funny to see the combination of old and new here.


From there we went out to the airport to greet our guests. It was great to see mom and Meg and I think that they were both glad to be off the plane after a long flight. It is strange to host guests in a foreign country. We wanted to be more familiar but being unable to read and speak efficiently certainly limits the amount of hospitality one can provide. We had a beautiful couple of days in Kyoto and were so lucky to be there for the beginning of a very early sakura season, but I will save description of our tourist adventures for subsequent blogs.