We are home now and I think after 3 days I am finally over my jet lag. Our last two days in Tokyo were so much fun. We went to the Grand Sumo Tournament and Bunraku, the traditional Japanese puppet theater. It is probably the inspiration for Avenue Q but the level of mindfulness and contained drama is just so beautiful and inspiring. You can say the same thing for the Sumo, too, but the audiences were very different. The Bunraku audience includes many women in kimono and, let’s face it, a lot of people sleeping since it is 3.5 hours long and often not much action. The sumo audience includes everyone, every age and lots of audience participation. The average bout is about 10 seconds but somehow very exciting! Picture taking is not allowed at Bunraku but here are some photos from the Sumo Tournament.

[caption id="attachment_515" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pretty flexible dudes."][/caption][caption id="attachment_517" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After. They seem to only wear yukatas -- maybe they are too big for pants."][/caption]

Our last day in Kyoto we went on the philosopher’s walk.

[caption id="attachment_508" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I saw this! My idea of heaven!"][/caption]

One of my teacher training students, Miho, works at a jazz club in Osaka called Billboard. It is like the Blue Note in NYC. She invited us as her guests, to come hear Marcus Miller and his band. What a treat! He wrote the album Tutu, 25 years ago, for Miles Davis and this concert was called Tutu Revisited. He has an amazing band and it was a very cool gig. Miho brought us back stage and Marcus was so nice. He told me he

really wants to do yoga!

Here are a few more images from my teaching weekend in Osaka. The peeps in Tokyo said that the peeps in Osaka are known for their casual friendliness and yes! It’s true. Everyone was so nice and open hearted and welcoming

[caption id="attachment_492" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The classes were special for me, too."][/caption][caption id="attachment_494" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dave teaching meditation."][/caption][caption id="attachment_496" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="and partnering work."][/caption]

Here are a few pics from the OM yoga weekend in Osaka.

[caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kazumi is so cute!"][/caption]

We finished teaching all our OM yoga gigs in Japan! It feels so great to be on total holiday now and it also feels so great to have met all these wonderful Japanese yogis and shared our practice together.

We went to Gion both nights for dinner. The first night we sat outside and had a little grill of our own. I know it is supposed to be fun to do that and it was, but somehow I don’t know…it is extra expensive to cook your own dinner! We were alongside the river and it was peaceful and sort of otherworldly. The next night we found a great little place where we finally got what we wanted — noodle soup and skewers, yakatori type things. I got onion and eggplant and Dave got pork. We both got sake.

[caption id="attachment_472" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hot sake -- oishi!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_474" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We closed the joint! Arrigato gazimas."][/caption]

We were kind of getting tired of walking and looking but as we were walking out of Ryoan-ji we saw a vending machine — many vending machines! — with matcha latte! Yes! We slipped in our 500 yen coin and a cup plopped down, some ice dropped into it and milky green tea poured in. Yum! That totally revived us and we went to the Golden Paviliion which turned to be a good move because seeing it as sunset is the most exquisite thing ever.
I also bought a temple book at the 1000 Buddhas temple and had a calligraphy done at each temple we visited. They stamp it for you and then a calligrapher writes the date and the place and maybe something else special.

[caption id="attachment_466" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Thank you for writing so beautifully in my temple book."][/caption]

You are not allowed to take photos at most of these places, especially the World Heritage Sites such as the Castle. But we got a few pictures of the famous Zen rock garden and the beautiful Toji-in Temple. We really liked Toji-in because there was almost nobody else there. We sat for a while and listened to the waterfall. My friend, Neil, says that this is landscape technology developed for meditation and I agree. I felt no resistance to sitting down and being quiet.

[caption id="attachment_456" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We saw many rock and sand gardens but this is the famous one, famous for being the first. It\'s like a painting. Lots of negative space."][/caption][caption id="attachment_458" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The lotus pond."][/caption]

Nudgie really wanted to go to the castle so off we went! He is just as interested in the secular life as the “spiritual” life and after visiting the castle I really want to reread Shogun!

[caption id="attachment_450" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pretty good security system, huh?"][/caption]Another really cool part of the castle are the nightingale floors which creak and sing. They were made that way so that no one could sneak into the castle unheard.