The beauty of Japan, entry 1: Shrines & Parks

I think anyone who has visited Japan for more than 30min would have to agree that there is a LOT of beauty to this somewhat-tiny country. Some of you who have never stepped foot in Japan know this simply from the amazing touristy pictures you seen online, or maybe in brochures. But I feel I would be remiss to have a blog about Japan and NOT dedicate some space to talking about, and revealing, some of its beauty. If only pictures & words could do it more justice!!

For this entry, I wanted to focus on shrines & parks, mostly because I just visited one today, it was a beautiful day, and so I brought my camera & took lots of pictures :D Although it might appear somewhat random that I placed shrines & parks together, there is a method to my madness: in Japan, the two almost seem to be synonymous with each other.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't parks without shrines, and vice versa, but certainly in my limited experiences, whenever I see a shrine, it's usually enclosed, with benches and trees everywhere, and often there are also some manner of playground equipment. To a foreigner like myself, it almost appears that maybe all of these shrines were once built and used, but have now been mostly forgotten about, and so were kinda "converted" to parks and playgrounds.

The architecture of the shrines are breathtaking. Similar to the elaborate churches & cathedrals of olde, these shrines are beautiful in the simplicity of their layout juxtaposed with the complexity of the intricate detail given to each tile and inscription. Although I have no idea what any of the writing says (it's all in kanji), in a strange way that makes the experience all the more mysterious and adventuresome.

Almost inveriably at each shrine, there is a box of some kind where patrons can drop in some money and offer up a prayer/request. They then tug on a rope, which is attached to a bell, which I believe serves to alert that particular god of whatever prayer/request that was made. As a Christian, it saddens my heart to see such beauty and effort (and money) delivered in vain to a god or gods that do not exist. Some of my friends have mentioned feeling a strange, or almost evil, presence when entering some of these shrines or temples. As of yet I have not felt such a presence; only a wistful feeling of regret that most of these beautiful Japanese people to not know and worship the only One worthy of such homage, Jesus Christ.

But that's why we (Christians) are here; to share the truth, in love, and patiently watch to see how lives are transformed as more people come to know the living God.

Such beauty :)