How do you sum up our time in a country so full of contrasts
- a people so enamoured with technology and modernity, yet so committed to preserving its past
- a land of cities full of people, and of gloriously empty forests and mountains
- a history of such isolation, exclusion and destruction, and a people so hospitable to foreigners?
Millions of words have been written trying to describe and explain all this, so we decided we would limit ourselves to just 17 syllables each. Inspired by James May ('Our man in Japan'), we would each compose a haiku - a traditional form of Japanese poetry with three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, which says just enough to evoke meaning.
As Hamish walked up volcanic Mt Yotei and reflected on the Japanese commitment to preserve their past and advance into their future, he composed his haiku:
Reconstructed bones
Wrapped in neon kimono
While nature exhales
Brilliant!
Totally intimidated, I decided to admit defeat (and suggest that these 17 blog posts could be my haiku about Japan instead).
Instead I decided to write a haiku about the other aspect of this trip which has been just as wonderful - experiencing this people and their land with my wonderful son. How would I sum up what I've appreciated about this journey together? An impossible task (and poetry was never my thing) but here it is
Explore and discuss
Psalms, shrines, matcha and mountains
Thankful beyond words
Thankful to Danielle for first suggesting this family tradition of a special trip when our children finish school.
Thankful to the thousands of Japanese people who welcomed us so warmly and patiently.
Thankful to Hamish for being willing to come away with his old man and listen to continual historical tangents.
And most of all, thankful to God for his extraordinary generosity to me in all these ways.
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