Awaking for my second to last day off here in Japan, as we near the end of the journey I am a wellspring of mixed emotions. I’m forever enamored with Japan and deeply hope that I am granted the opportunity to return again. As I leave places I have been before, I am reminded of that sweet moment where attachment and grasping arises, and I am reminded to let go, to let grow, and follow the flow of life. However, it doesn’t change the fact that now for my second journey here, my 650th show here in Japan, I really deeply find myself feeling in love with all that is Japan, and not looking forward to my separation from paradise. As I departed on my day off, before the sun arose, I gazed up toward a crescent moon marked by one star above and one star below. The light of the day was beginning to arise and it was that high point in time where the fog over the canal was masked by the last breath of the night bleeding into the rising sun that I realized this would be a fun journey indeed, yet also a bittersweet moment that marked the passage of something so amazing that would once again drift into fleeting dream like memory, rather than my waking reality.
It was a long journey as I had about 5 hours each direction of train travel ahead of me and just one day to make all of the transfers to my destination; which was a quaint little town nestled in the mountains called Yufuin. The train I rode to Yufuin was a lime green train with gold calligraphy letters imprinted on the side, amber colored glass, and duo tone hardwood floors. The vibration on the train was that of excitement and adventure. Everyone on the train was joyously engaging with friends and creatively dressed in a poetic beat like style unique to perhaps the creative folk and hipsters of Japan. I was overcome with an excitable curiosity about the city I had chosen to go. I felt like I was on the verge of pending adventure that was going to be an over the top kind of experience. The train rolled through mountain town after mountain town and as the elevation grew, the snow line fell. The scenery became more and more mystical as the train passed by trees, towns, cities, and villages all covered in dense snow. Cold waterways and rushing waterfalls, along with the occasional train beverage. Arriving to Yufuin, the train station had a foot onsen for awaiting travelers, and mobs of excited people. There were carriages with two wheels being powered by athletic men in long black stockings and pointed hats, art, food, more snow, all nestled between a series of intense mountain peaks. From the moment of my arrival, I was caught in a artistic, mountain haze, and just began to wander, watching people move about, watching people watch me move about, looking at artistic creations, taking in the scene, to a lake, along a path, and eventually discovered the Yufuin Brewery where I enjoyed a series of delicious Stouts. There was an onsen that boasted special healing properties that I wanted to go to and after curiously looking found it to be for guests of the hotel only. Feeling a bit discourage, I realized that more time had actually passed in a state of hopeless wonderment and I had been so enchanted by the scene and my desire to seek a thrilling adventure that it was actually time to start heading back to the train. Where had the day gone? Taking the last few moments to watch the sun drop in the cold mountain sky I sat with my feet in the foot onsen while meditating on the day. Realizing that the whole of the experience may not been the huge “thrill seeking adventure” that I had set out to have, what it was became an amazing experience where the simplicity of being part of the scene, sort of on beat with the flow of art as it poured out of each person that was present on the streets of Yufuin that day all contributed to what made the city so very interesting and took from me each moment of the day. For it was not one thing, it was a collection of things, that poetically connected like a Haiku, that became what gave me what I needed. Satisfied, the ride home on that magical little Yufuin Midori No Express Train was marked by more fabulous Yufuin Beer from the brewery and the hum of voices harmonizing to the beat of the train in a spontaneous rhapsody that I could never try to recreate as it was something, like a sand mandala that was meant to disappear into the fading day. With that, I arrived back in a slightly dazed state a little unsure of what I had just experienced, yet knowing that at the core of it, was a connection through something creative that only a trip to Yufuin can reveal.
With that, I now move into what will more than likely be the most epic few weeks of this journey, a journey that will be not only hard to ever match, but one that will be equally hard to let go of. What has transpired is more than I could have ever asked for, more than I could have dreamed, more than I expected, and not only caught me by surprise but is equally a big tease as I will have to walk away, say goodbye, and some how find peace in my life back home, living with the reality of what has been revealed. To those that have been part of this journey, I am forever in love.. with you, with Japan, with the whole of the experience. Know that with each moment I have cherished the dance I have shared with you. I’m grateful for having had an opportunity to have lived fully, to have danced wildly, and loved deeply, all in connection with the flow of life and beings that are beyond amazing but have touched me in ways that I have not been touched in a long long time. I am forever grateful, in love, and equally sad pending the upcoming departure. Yet before I arrive at the departure, which I am attempting to emotionally prepare myself for, there is still the epic journey at hand that will mark 10 of the most amazing days of my adult life as I will journey to places that my spirit has longed, if not dreamed to go… and with that I consciously choose to drift fully embodied into the passage toward the dissolution, a bit watery eyed, as nothing can ever compare to what has been. Raven… thank you for being my guide!
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