01.08.2011 Shrine visit and short video in Osaka

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I woke up today feeling as thought I was in a rut or something. Japan is amazing and there are so many placing and things I want to go and visit but I haven’t. Today I had no plans what so ever but I wanted to at least bike around the neighborhood to check out life outside the house. About a week or so ago Kaori showed me a shrine close to the home so I biked over to see what it was all about.

Upon arrival at the shrine, I was instantly happier with my day and with my attitude. It is tough to try to soak up everything at once, but while walking through I was able to pause and look at the shrine in more detail and take my time with investigating what this place was all about. One of the local members, I presume, saw me and walked over to ask me who I was. I responded in a mish mash of Japanese and English since I am not fluent yet. He spoke some English and to my surprise most people can in Japan. I was very impressed and again went on talking about the temple in Japanglish. He was very welcoming and very kind to tell me the history and some of the shrines roots about where and who created it. I can’t really describe all the emotions but I have included a short video of myself and the gentleman talking about the shrine. What felt like 20 minutes was in fact one hour that had past and I needed to meet Kaori and her sister at the mall. We bid my fair wells and I head on out, but the strange part was I wanted to go back and learn more about it. The Culture and the people of Japan have been so warm and kind that I would highly recommend, even if you don’t speak Japanese, to visit and see the world from the land of the rising sun.

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