Morning
Afternoon
Night life
Today, most of the group woke up quite early to attend the morning prayer at the temple’s shrine. The prayer was called a Goma prayer, and involved the burning out of worldly desires using holy fire. When all desires (which were written on ritualistic sticks) were burned, all participants got the opportunity to receive some of Buddhas warmth by waving the hot air from the fire towards themselves.
After the morning prayer, most of the participants went back to bed for a few more hours of much needed sleep, whereas others took the opportunity to take an early morning hike in the surrounding mountains. About an hour later, breakfast was served and afterwards we already had to make our leave and catch a train towards Osaka, where we transferred onto a Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.
Upon our arrival at our capsule hostel in Tokyo, which was late in the afternoon, the participants were given an hour of free time. Most participants used this time to explore the surrounding area before making their way back to the hostel to leave for the evening program. After a short trip by train, the group arrived at a small dock, where we embarked on a small river boat equipped with plenty of teppanyaki plates for dinner on a boat tour on the canals of Tokyo.
A short two hours later, dinner was concluded and the official program was over. While some participants were eager to get to bed, others were excited to explore Tokyo’s nightlife and enjoyed a few drinks in a local darts bar, before also heading back to the hostel for a good night’s sleep.
Written by: Roy de Haan & Marlo Cieraad
