Okinawa

is always hot.

Ten

When I agreed to become a pilgrim and start the temple walk I also agreed to abide by ten commandments. I had an abundance of time on my hands walking from one temple to the next and I wanted to write down some of my thoughts on the laws that I governed myself by for that month.

The first commandment is, "I will not harm life," (fusesho), the second is "I will not steal," (fuchuto), "I will not commit adultery" (fujain), "I will not tell a lie," (fumogo), "I will not exaggerate," fukigo, "I will not speak abusively," (fuakuku), "I will not equivocate," (furyozetsu), "I will not be greedy," (fukendon), "I will not be hateful," (fushin-ni), and last, "I will not lose sight of the truth," (fujaken). The reason I listed these commandments, and their japanese equivalents, is because I want to open a discussion about what they mean to you and to me.

1. I will not harm life.
I tried hard not to harm life, and even went so far as to help life wherever I could. In the above statement, how does one define life? Are mosquitos alive? I killed a few dozen of them walking around shikoku. Are plants life? Again I broke a few branches and hacked my way through a better part of Kochi prefecture. The lives of the baby bird, kitten, and countless insects I saved may ensure that the mosquitos lives I took cancel each other out, but I don't know. I highly doubt even Kobo Daishi, the omnipotent miracle worker and founder of the temple walk, didn't kill his fair share of insects by accident or on purpose, so I'm going to say I was pretty successful on this one in terms of not harming physical life. This far we have defined the first commandment as, "I will not kill," or, "thou shalt not kill," but harm does not necessarily mean kill. It can also mean harm in an emotional sense. I did not harm anyone emotionally, as far as I know, but I wanted to be clear on the definition of the first commandment for going on to the second. I will not harm life means be kind to everyone and everything, if you cannot be kind then be thoughtful, if you cannot be thoughtful then kill it.

Ill continue later...

Finished

I finished my walk the other week, but haven't got around to writing until today. I walked to the 44th temple, took a photo of myself smiling big, and headed for a bus stop to rest my aching feet. I took the bus into Matsuyama city and holed up in a youth hostel for days meeting new friends and talking to old ones. After a few days of exploring Matsuyama, its a nice city but nothing Id go back to, I got down to partying. After befriending a world traveling Japanese, a hitchhiking French man, and a crazy German we all set out into the night to paint the town. We got into loads of trouble and the highlight of the evening was talking to hosts and hostess after their work hours, if you are familiar with host clubs than you know, but if you're not I will explain.

In Japan they have host and hostess clubs that you pay to get into so men, who are usually adorned in some kind of fantasy rock star clothing and big hair, will talk to you all night feeding you drinks and pretending they like you. Same goes for the women expect they are usually wearing hot pants and fur. Talking to these people was like seeing the inside of a host club without having to pay.

After Matsuyama city I wanted to surprise Yifei, so I took the train all day to arrive at Nagoya at around 9pm. My heart pounding and my palms sweaty I rang the elevator to bring me to the 7th floor of her apartment complex. I talked to a nice girl in the elevator and stepped out, walked down the long hallway and gently knocked on her door. My knock reverberated through the empty apartment, alas, she was not there. I tried again, but there was only silence. The girl who I talked to in the elevator just happened to live right next door, and seeing my face she invited me in to use her computer so I could find a hotel. I quickly found one and departed with well wishes and an invitation to hang out that night. I went to the first hotel only to discover that it was booked solid, so I went to another and the same thing. I went to nine different hotels and they were all booked out because of some massive concert in Nagoya. I had nowhere to stay, but I did have something to do, so I called up my new friend Lynn and met her and her friends in front of Nagoya station. We went out to a small club where you had to take off your shoes and got to drinking. Met some cool people, danced all night to the wee hours of the morning, had McDonalds, fell asleep in a manga cafe, got up and felt horrible, almost died, felt a little better, walked to a youth hostel, got a hold of Yifei, went to the youth hostel and took a nap and a shower, finally got to see Yifei and it put a giant perma-smile on my face.

Now I am in Tokyo relaxing and just sleeping as late as I want without any worry about waking up and walking another 25km. I relish every second of doing nothing. Love and miss all of you. I'll be writing more in the next couple days, but this is just where I am now.

Post

I guess Im a little travel weary because that last post sounded pissy to me. Ive been pounding the pavement pretty much non-stop since May 3rd and it takes a lot of mental energy to stay positive, at least Ive decided on a final destination. I`m going to make it to temple 44 because theres something satifying about completing exactly half of the temples, it just begs for future completion.

Speaking of mental effort I had a mental breakthrough/breakdown a couple days ago. I was walking to temple 39, the furthest distance between temples on the trek, and I began to pick up my pace. I walked faster and faster, my limbs akimbo, my neck straining against the straps. I imagine I resembled a giant lumbering walrus with my 20 pound pack, but I continued. Soon spittle flew from my mouth and I was yelling incoherently for things to burn, decay and die. I wanted no light to reach the earth and for happiness to fade from memory. I felt anger well up inside of me like an oil strike and release in a torrent of black putrid hate. Then, as I was climbing another mountain, the anger began to fade as if it were on a dimmer switch, and then extinguish. Analyzing the episode I realized that I have not been angry in a very long while. To be joyful and accomdating all the time is exhausting, so now that I have had my carnage fix I feel like a million bucks. Onward to glory.

By the way, did anyone hear that my brother just had a kid? I guess that makes me an uncle. Way to go Dan, your boys can swim.

Good

Im all good, about to make it to some other place. After awhile it all runs together. Amazing and beautiful things can become boring. I want some carnage. I think thats why I went to an arcade today.

BOO

I have a cold. I told myself that it was just allergies until my whole head started to fill with goo, now it feels like a leaking balloon. I still managed to walk from temple 28 to temple 30, about 15km, and am now writing this in a cubicle. Japan has these internet cafes where you can rent out the room by the hour or stay the night at a discount price. I think they are made specifically for the hardcore gamer because they also offer food, beverage, showers and restrooms.

I met gaijin henro the other day. The first Ive run into on this trip. He got a grant from his school to study the 88 temple run, speaks great Japanese and was a huge asset for the two days we hiked together. Alas, he is returning home and I am once again without a map or language skills to navigate daily life. Just a couple minutes ago, dribbling snot onto the counter I tried to get the girl behind the counter to let me use the computer without buying a membership card `because,` I said, `I will never come back here again.` She just stared at me, and I at her, until I finally said, Marshmellow pistolwhipping dog muffin and pointed at the card. She took that as confirmation and now I have a membership card to, new new Cafe: for fun relax time.

It was really nice to speak English for awhile, and I think as soon as I started to speak english I became more American. Ill explain. I have to become more Japanese to survive without using language, which means I bow a lot and say the three words I know in Japanese again and again. I hadnt spoken proper English and I hadnt told a joke that anyone understood in two weeks, so as soon as I was understood I unloaded two weeks worth of comedy. Alex was rolling and I again became American. My body language started to loosen up, I nodded up instead of down and started another war in the middle east. It was a breath of fresh air.

Typhoon

A typhoon NARROWLY missed Shikoku last night. Instead of coming on land, it was blown out to sea but a freak cold front. If it had hit I would have been right in its way. I am at temple 24 which is located on the eastern most tip of Shikoku and directly on the ocean. As I speak, I am admiring the view of churning foam, smelling the salt air and listening to the gentle crash of waves from my second story room. Still more wonderful and exciting things have happened, but I will leave the story for another day and another time.

Can someone tell me about Dan and Jo?