I think this will be my last post on here while I'm in Kyoto. Just have tomorrow the next day and then the day of my flight. Tomorrow I will meet with Yamamoto san for our last morning Nichiren-shu practice. In the evening I will get together with Masami and say my good-byes for now. Said my good-byes to Naomi this morning when she stopped by. Will try to get together with Taka on Saturday when she gets back from Tokyo and kicked it with Oliver and Sybill last night with the folks from the Bakery. That covers all my main friends here. I'm still alittle shocked I have to leave so soon. I already made multiple plans for Feb. here, that is my way of making sure I come back. I don't make plans with people and back out, so this is my way of forcing me in case I get lazy or something. Fingers crossed, I will be able to come back to Kyoto, but it might turn out to be some other place in Japan. I'd like to spread my wings alittle here in Japan, but have seemingly fallen in love with Kyoto, strange huh? It is a good base of operations, and for a city it is quite livable. I hate to leave when I'm just starting to really get the hang of the language, of course its more than that, but that is a factor. Well I'll stop here. Until I make it back to Kyoto, sayonara.

Today I met with Nobuyuki, the fellow who wanted to talk to me about some sort of music thing. Well it turns out he wants to record a song with my shakuhachi playing in it. I'm going to keep in touch with him and when I return to Japan we will do a recording. Another thing to bring me back to Kyoto. Later in the day I went to Yamamoto san's house for their morning service. They had me play a shakuhachi piece. We talked for alittle bit and then proceeded with the morning service. Yamamoto san knows a fellow who is a sanskrit scholar and Buddhist specialist. I will try to get together with him to learn more about Japanese Buddhism. Wednesday I will attend another morning service with Yamamoto san. Well tomorrow I'm meeting with Naomi and we are going to see a caligraphy thing or something. Should be interesting anyhow.

Hello,
This week is really busy, so I might not be posting everyday. While this seems to be happening anyway, just thought I'd say so. Got everything set to go back to the states. Booked my ride to the airport, the flights should be the same and so forth, time wise that is. I will get there three hours early. I think it will be a mad house at the airport, lots of people are probably going home for the holidays. Today I'm meeting with the music fellow to see his idea. I'm also meeting with Yamamoto san to join their morning service. Tomorrow I'm going with Naomi and her etegami teacher to see a calligraphy thing, should be fun. Wednesday I will have dinner with Naomi and see the lights at wherever it was we are going. I'm going to setup a get together with all my friends here at Yurakuso probably on sat. Masami and I will get together on Friday instead of saturday. Then sunday I take off over the big blue sea. I'm already missing it here and I haven't even left. Hehe, well I'll be back certainly. Jya for now.

Today I was invited to Yamamoto san's home. Yesterday he asked if I would be interesting in learning about his Buddhist beliefs. I said yes and he stopped by to have me over for morning practices. It was very interesting and he even gave me prayer bead type things and a small book with the sutras they recite. Yamamoto san is a follower of Nichiren Buddhism, they believe enlightenment is achievable by everyone. The Lotus Sutra is the most important writing for Nichiren Buddhists. During a morning session it is opened with the recitation of Nam Myou Hou Ren ge Kyou - Japanese for the 'Devotion, mystic law, Lotus sutra'. Certain passages are recited from the Lotus Sutra and this is all done in front of the Gohonzon, the alter. Inscence is offered and the sutra recited. I've been invited to return on Monday at 1 for morning prayers again. There is also a group called SGI that is a Nichiren buddhist organization for world peace. Yamamoto san gets their monthly publication. He let me borrow a number of those magazines as well as some smaller books by the current president of SGI on peace proposals and related things. After that I went to practice shakuhachi by the river. After the majority of my practice a fellow approached me and wanted to know if I'd be interested in working on a collaboration of Japanese music in other parts of the world, or something like that. I'm going to meet with him on Monday before I go to Yamamoto san's house. Besides that I just worked on my final paper, and read.

Well today was pretty easy going. Practiced shakuhachi by the river. Ran into Naomi and we went for coffee at her friends little cafe. Went home, went to the store, eat some lunch, yup yup yup. Looks like my next get together with Masami will be next saturday not this one. So tomorrow I will be bored. Worked on my final paper getting it all finished up, still have Sundays experience to write about and my last outing with Masami next Saturday, but have to turn it in on monday,... hmm. I guess that doesn't quite work. Oh well. I'm going to apply for the shakuhachi scholarship and see what happens, worth a try. I also sent my poetry in to a contest to see what happens. I ordered a Christmas present for Masami, I hope she likes it. Still alittle flustered I have to leave so soon. I watched a short video about a fellow who walked the length of Japan, I think I need to do that. I'll set aside sometime in the future for something like that. Takes about 6 months from furthest south to furthest north point. Don't really care if I do that, but would like to see the country as a whole. Well thats all for now.

I think I missed a couple of days on here. Today was my last shakuhachi lesson. I certainly would like to continue with Kurahashi sensei in the future. He will try to visit Washington state and I would like to live in Kyoto again to take lessons. This week is mostly going to be for wrapping up all my class work. Man, time flys when your having fun. I wish I could stay longer, but my visa runs out and so would my money eventually. I still have enough saved up to come back, so I'll keep that in the bank. Hey next time I won't also have to pay tuition so I can stay that much longer (visa depending). Well thats all for now I guess. Until next time.
Chris

Figured I should write something before I leave for Osaka so I don't forget to write later. Well not much to say, looking forward to the concert should be fun. Today was pretty much just spent sitting about and tooting on my flute. Its still early, but I won't be back until probably 10 or so tonight. Tomorrow I'll probably rest, I went all over the place this weekend and today even more. Next weekend will be very busy too. I have to finish all my school work also. Wednesday I think I'll go to Fushimi Inari. Hopefully I can get some new pictures, its been awhile, rain makes me hesitant to take my camera outside. Well thats all I guess.

I think I missed another day, I'm getting alittle lazy or something. Anyway, things are going well here. I finally start piling up a busy schedule and I have to leave in two weeks. bah. Well such is life. Yesterday I spent the day with Naomi san. We walked here and there and had a good day. She invited me to go to Ohara next weekend which sounds like fun. Today I went to Uji and met with Masami. She is good fun to be around, pretty too, which certainly doesn't hurt. I left here at 9:30am and got back at 10:30pm. A long day, but went so very quickly. It rained almost the entire time. We went to Byoudoin first and then walked to some other shrines and so forth and some bridges. Then decided it would be good to eat something. Couldn't really find anything so we decided to head back to Kyoto and find someplace to eat. We walked down Shijo and found a small Italian resturant. We had pizza and salad, oishikatta da yo. Talked for a bit and then decided to go to Kyomizudera. It is lit up at night to show of the momiji (fall leaves). Oh my goodness was it busy, mechya hito ga ookatta da yo. We took the bus from near the resturant and had to wait for the next bus because no one else could fit on the first one. The second on was crammed too. When we got there we had to walk up the hill to get there and it was sooo busy, we even had to stop, because the temple was full. We finally got there
and walked through the mass of people around and out again. Beautiful, but hard to enjoy with so many people. After that we walked around and looked for some jinja we never ended up finding, got back to the main street and went to starbucks, hehe. Talked for a while and finally walked toward the train station. We parted ways about 10 I suspect. Then I had to go back to the subway station and make my way home. Whew, I can't believe how fast the day went, crazy. Time flies when your having fun though. She is great, easy to smile and laugh, thats my kind of person. Tomorrow I may forget to write here again, I'm going to Osaka for a honkyoku concert. I just have to figure out where I'm going. I have a map drawn by my sensei and what trains I need to take to get there. Shouldn't be too hard, only one transfer. Jya, oyasumi.