Travels in Japan - Tokyo and Beyond

2 min

In early May of 2010, I went to Japan to take part in festivities surrounding the premiere of Gaia Symphony 7. This series of films features people who are working to make a better, greener world, and I was honored to be featured in this installment. As usual when I go to Japan, the trip was a mix of business and pleasure, and a refreshing return to a country I have loved since my first visit as a 17-year-old in 1959.

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My hands are washed as part of a purification ritual at Meiji Shrine prior to the premiere of Gaia Symphony 7.
Rather than a showy mass of blooms and foliage, the Japanese use negative space in their floral arrangements to create simple, harmonious forms. This exhibition is at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.
Enjoying the lovely springtime azaleas.
The Ise Shrine complex, in the city Ise in the Mie prefecture of Japan, is one of Shinto's holiest sites. Founded in 690 A.D., it is felt that all Japanese should try to make a pilgrimage there at least once in their lives.
I am drying off after a purification ritual - I was washed with water from the Isuzu river, which runs inside the Ise Shrine. The woman on the right is Minobe-san, a Shinto priestess who guided me around the shrine on a previous visit.
Along with other friends, the woman on the far left is Takako Takano, a famed Japanese explorer of the Arctic, the Amazon and Micronesia. She is a passionate advocate for preservation of fragile ecosystems, and is featured with me in the Gaia Symphony 7 film.
In Ise, Japan, I am enjoying a new friendship with two great people. The daughter of director Jin Tatsumura is on my lap, and to my left is Takako Takano, a Japanese woman who has explored the Arctic extensively and is a passionate advocate for environmental and cultural preservation. Tatsamura-san made the film Gaia Symphony 7, in which Takano-san and I were featured.
Takako Takano is a Japanese explorer of the Arctic, and one of the people featured with me in the film Gaia Symphony 7. This photo is of a small pond in which she is growing young rice plants from seeds. Cherry trees are blooming in the background.
The serenity of the Ise shrine exerted a calming influence on all of the creatures within.
This tranquil, lovingly crafted pond and surrounding garden are next to a small Zen temple in Izu.
With Mt. Omura in the background, I am posing with MOA museum members Sakakibara-san, Kato-san and our driver.
Hexagonal volcanic-stone pillars form a an outdoor stage, and a durable platform for childrens' games.
This is Mt. Omura, the volcano that gave birth to the lava cliffs that form the Jogasaki coast 2,600 years ago.
Children's Day is a Japanese national holiday. It occurs annually on May 5, at the end of the national Golden Week (April 29-May 5) celebration. Many happy kids flooded the park at the base of Mt. Omura.
There is nothing more beaufiful than the sakura - cherry blossoms - that come out during Japan's Golden Week.