At the base of Mount Takao, on the outskirts of Tokyo, a Buddhist monk performed a ceremony of blessings. Dressed in bright orange, the monk prayed over the white Toyota van, banged the drum a few times, and dripped holy water onto the hood. The family watched quietly, perhaps praying along with the monk, for no accidents and safe driving. We had just witnessed a Buddhist car blessing.
This was the first I had heard of a car blessing, and Sumi from Host Nations Relations explained to us what was happening. “This is very exciting for you to watch,” she said. This particular temple is specifically for car blessings, as you can see the parking spaces painted at the entrance of the temple. They perform a blessing about every 15 or 30 minutes, depending on the demand. After the van ceremony was done, a motorcyclist drove up to receive his blessing. After a bit of research, there are both Buddhist and Shinto car blessings in Japan, and they are becoming more and more popular. Shinto blessings involve flower petals being sprinkled on the car, and they are performed by a Shinto priest called a kannushi. Based on the crazy driving situations in Japan, I can understand why they feel the need to have the extra assurance. I wonder if our car was blessed when it was brand new (in 1998!).
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by driving to Narita airport to pick up Jonathan, a friend of ours from college, who would be visiting for two weeks. Driving to the airport was very exciting, and we thankfully didn’t hit any traffic. We did lose our toll ticket (first time ever in our lives), and I tried to explain in English and gestures that it was gone. (Which is actually much more difficult than it sounds…) We backed up the toll gate a little bit, but no worries, as there is a big Y on our license plate, alerting everyone that we are American and don’t know what we are doing. Eventually, the toll booth person understood, took down our information, and charged us the regular toll amount. (Thankfully!) It’s moments like those when I am mad at myself for knowing as little Japanese as I do. (We found the ticket when we got to the airport. We are AWESOME!) On our way home, we stopped at Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast food restaurant that is amazing, for Jonathan’s first meal in Japan. Meat and rice bowls = fabulous! It was the perfect start to a great two weeks.
I don’t really care about your plans tonight or how crazy the party you were at last night was, so please, don’t add to the noise pollution around me. (I’m assuming most people feel the same way…or I am just a very angry person.) This public announcement about cell phone use on the train makes me laugh. You don’t want to make the elderly woman with a cane next to you cry due to your obscene cell phone use. Nor do you want to make the cute girl next to you uncomfortable. So please, turn those cell phones off!
This was the first I had heard of a car blessing, and Sumi from Host Nations Relations explained to us what was happening. “This is very exciting for you to watch,” she said. This particular temple is specifically for car blessings, as you can see the parking spaces painted at the entrance of the temple. They perform a blessing about every 15 or 30 minutes, depending on the demand. After the van ceremony was done, a motorcyclist drove up to receive his blessing. After a bit of research, there are both Buddhist and Shinto car blessings in Japan, and they are becoming more and more popular. Shinto blessings involve flower petals being sprinkled on the car, and they are performed by a Shinto priest called a kannushi. Based on the crazy driving situations in Japan, I can understand why they feel the need to have the extra assurance. I wonder if our car was blessed when it was brand new (in 1998!).
