Yesterday, we wandered many streets of the surrounding Japanese cities — getting a glimpse of the Japanese culture far from the well-traveled roads. It’s hard to avoid the observation that this island is cramped, with narrow streets, narrow sidewalks and bustling activity everywhere.

We also visited two important cultural places — a giant Buddha (we even went inside the belly of the Buddha, which should be the name of a rock band, as Dave Barry used to say in his columns) and a beautiful temple shrine complex. Both sites are hundreds of years old. The temple, in particular, was astounding, using the landscape to capture the essence of spirituality.

I wrote this haiku to capture my thoughts of the shrine:

A water whisper:
Music amid the temples;
we walk silent paths

The site is known as Tsurogaoka Hachimangue Shrine and it is in Kamakura.

Peace (in 5-7-5),
Kevin