I recently went on an amazing trip to Japan with my husband, representing Gulf States Toyota and Lithia Toyota of Abilene. We traveled with a group from various markets of Toyota Motor Sales. Each year a group from the United States visits Japan as part of a Japan Culture Trip to allow those from the US to see what Toyota is like in Japan. It was a beautiful experience which we documented most of it on a special group page on facebook if you'd like to see more than just yoga, you're welcome to join the group and see the posts there.
One of the first places we visited was the Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, Taito, Tokyo. It's a buddhist temple located next to a shinto shrine. It has beautiful architecture. One of the fun things we participated in was a fortune lottery. 70 percent of the options are positive fortunes, while 30 percent are not. My husband and I both got a fortune, I received a small fortune and he received a bad one. While the initial option is a bad fortune, they have a line to tie the bad fortunes to and they fly away, taking the bad fortune with it - making all fortunes good fortunes.
And, of course I had to strike a pose in front of the wonderful architecture -
Considering we went to Japan with Toyota, while I didn't take a pic inside the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, I did take a pic outside. This is Warrior 3, representing T for Toyota. The museum shows the technological transitions from the start with the loom to the beginning of automobiles and the actual machines that paved the way.
We then traveled to Nagashima-onsen to stay in a traditional Japanese hotel - Hotel Hanamizuki, located with a hot springs and nature park. At the hotel, each room is made with Tatami mats - derived from rice straw. I thought this would be a good time to get some yoga in and see how yoga on the rice straw works. It was a good time to stretch the hips from all the traveling.
While at the traditional Japanese hotel, we participated in a Japanese dinner wearing a form of Kimono called a Yukata. Yukatas are more light weight and comfortable forms of Kimonos. I did some "Chair Yoga" in the chairs we had in our room, and at the dinner. The first picture is Hero's pose, which is the manner in which the ladies served us that evening, and many sit. I then did an easy seated pose with gyan mudra and double pigeon.
We then toured an actual Toyota plant in the process of making the Prius. The Toyota museum and plant are both in Toyota City, near Nagoya. When in Nagoya, we visited the Nagoya Castle, pictured below. It is an amazingly beautiful castle to strike a pose near.
The next day I was able to experience a beautiful tea ceremony at the Koshoji Temple in Nagoya. The tea ceremony is a ritual way of preparing and drinking tea. We had fun fall treats followed by matcha green tea made by one of the monks of the temple - pictured below - along with the tea hostess.
The sweet treats - eaten before the tea to leave a sweet taste in the mouth to welcome the bitter tea.
They said each tea cup is choses for each participant. This was my cup.
We then traveled to Kyoto, Japan's original capital. There we visited the Golden Palace and the Nijo Castle. The Nijo Castle had a gate with ornate cranes, and when you see a crane - you must be a crane! Inside the castle was a beautiful room with elaborately painted peacocks. We weren't allowed to take pics inside the castle (nor is there much room in the walkways), so I came outside for peacock pose.
As we were leaving the castle, we were approached by a group of kids. They were asked to approach visitors and speak about peace. They gave us their message of peace and asked us to write them one. While I don't remember the exact words, I wrote about how peace is very important for everyone to seek. We need to embrace differences instead of fear them. As we seek to be an ambassador of peace, we can share love and light to the world so the Light of Peace can shine in all of us. They then asked to take a picture with us.
We then visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrine. The memorial was a somber reminder of when peace is not prevalent in the world. One of the images in the memorial is of a paper crane, which began as oragami to help a young girl experiencing after effects of the atomic bomb 9 years after it hit. The crane now represents peace, and is elaborated here and where paper cranes can be sent to be a part of the memorial.
Miyajima is a small island with the famed "floating" torii gate. I decided to do gate pose with the torii gate in the background.
On the side of the Itsukushima Shrine was a beautiful tree painting - so I was a tree in front of the tree đ
Our travels through the country of Japan seem like a bit of a whirlwind! We are still recovering from the different time zone and crazy travel through planes, trains and buses. The people we encountered in Japan were so welcoming and extremely hospitable. There is an aura of peace in many of the places we visited, and gentle smiles and bows everywhere we went. It took a while to stop bowing to everyone once we returned to the states. I hope you enjoy sharing this fun adventure with me through yoga poses. Arigatogozaimas (Thank you very much) đđ»