Where Am I

So getting up for my second day in Kyoto was a sore affair. The mat that i had slept on in my sake haze had not been good for me. Luckily they were out of tatami for that night and since i refuse to make reservations for future nights we will just see how the week progresses. I will let you know ahead of time that it worked out where i had the tatami every night but this one. Saving money is good when you don't really have that much of it. So after unsuccessfully sending my bag away i hung my head in shame, and to avoid the rain. Walked the 30 minutes to the shrine/church to meet Koji and we took off for Tenri. Mind you at this point i thought we were going to Nara which is the old capital and full of world heritage sites but we end up in Tenri with his mom meeting us at the station and all that jazz. Headed straight to the cafeteria for lunch which was ok and provided for me (each day is like that scene in half bakes where they are on the date and he has the money countdown thing in the corner, gotta watch it) then we were whisked away to the lecture room in the new old looking building. Here I learned what it meant to have a joyous life, that all humanity came from Tenri and specifically one 13 part hexagonal wooden pole, and that cleaning is very important. Saw their temple which they called the biggest wooden structure in Asia but i come to find out the biggest wooden building in the world is in Nara only a few km away. Hmm. After lecture and running into Koji's dad we head for the temple. The day turns out to be great and the mountains beautiful. The building really is beautiful and polished and smells lovely. Walked around, met some of the holy men (priests i think) and went on our way. So many people cleaning freaks me out.

Went over to their home to meet the new baby: March, thus named by her grandfather so international people could pronounce it. That's foresight. She was adorable and only 4 months. Met Koji's brother and some friends one of whom came from ATL and was taking time off school at Kennesaw to study Japanese and Tenrikyo. That's the religion/way of life by the way. 3M followers worldwide and a chruch in Atlanta. Amazing and I never would have known but for the rain in Kyoto. The train rides were fun talking about nonsense and Koji looking up every word in the dictionary. Have to give him credit for persistence. Interesting how I find these people.