It is a while since I posted to this blog since I have been busy with other things. However, it is now only three weeks until I go to Japan and I am experiencing excitement and terror in equal measure. I have been corresponding with a Japanese couch surfer and she told me an interesting thing that I don't know about cherry and plum blossom.

Plum blossom, it seems, is associated with Chinese cultural influence whereas cherry blossom is seen as the distinctive characteristic of Japanese cultural identity. I love the idea of cultural identity being associated with blossom. I guess here it would be the rose perhaps?

One thing I have been struggling a little with is finding a credit card that you don't have to pay to use in Japan. I have found a couple I just seem to be having problems getting hold of them. In addition, I haven't yet identified a way to potentially get emergency cash sent to Japan if the worst happens and I get robbed of everything.

I am currently looking to make some connects (as they might say in the Wire) in Japan. To this end, I have joined the couch surfing network. This may result in connecting with some people who might put me up for the night or simply some people to meet and perhaps visit a few cultural sites with.

I have also, with the help of Kyōshin,  identified a few locations in the Kyoto area associated with the life of Shinran, a Kamakura Buddhist visionary who has inspired me a great deal over the past few years. I hope to visit some or all of these sites. Fortunately, one of them, the Rokkakudo, is on the Saigoku trail anyway!

I have also come across a book by Shiro Usui called A Pilgrim's Guide to Forty-six Temples which includes both some of the Saigoku temples but also quite a number of other temples in the Kyoto area that I aim to visit. It's not a great book but does have some useful information in it.

Another friend, Shengyen, has been helping me with some advice on my route which is shaping up nicely. The main thing that I am now concerned about is that I won't have long enough in Japan to see everything I want to! But then, perhaps one can never have enough time.

Sites Around Kyoto Associated with Shinran

Higashi Honganji - The 'cathedral' of the Higashi Honganji branch of Shinshu.

Ian Reader has given me a schedule of which hibutsu (secret Buddha) are open while I will be in Japan. However, this seems different from a list I was sent by a sendatsu (pilgrim guide) so I need to check all this.

It turns out also that Ian - besides being a world authority on Japanese pilgrimage, - has also written on Japanese amulets so I will read up on this before I go.

I have now managed to book accommodation in a Japanese inn, known as ryokan, for the first 3 days of my stay in Kyoto.Ryokan Hiraiwa Finding accommodation is proving more difficult that I anticipated and I may have to stay in a Western style hotel. at some point. Ryokan often have Japanese-style, tatami mat rooms and it will be great to experience this for at least a few days. I hope at some stage to stay in temple accommodation at least for a night or two.

I have now sorted out travel insurance and am working up my itinerary in more detail.