I landed in Kansai Airport and after I met the really nice woman named Yuki Izumi (和泉由希). She was flying back to Osaka with some chiefs. She is an English teacher but has spent the past 15 years learning and teaching the “way of tea” or Japanese Tea Ceremony. She was traveling with some sushi chiefs to show Americans a bit about the Japanese culture.
She told me of her father when I mentioned i was going to Shikoku to think about doing the 88 Temple Pilgrimage. Her father had a mild stoke and was never really the same after it. One year he decided he wanted to do this pilgrimage because his wife, long deceased, was from the area. He was not a religious man but a spiritual one. He did the pilgrimage, walking all the way, in 3 months. She said the years after were the happiest in his life until he suffered another stoke. She warned me that a lot of people do it now because it is popular and forget the meaning. How it is more of a spiritual journey then just something you do.
She then said how special a person I was. Most north americans are always in a rush but I am not. I was surprised when she said this since it was so blunt and out of no where. I was heartened by her comment.
It was just an amazing chance to meet someone only 20 minutes into being here. I was just so wow’d by it.