In my case, my friend Dan's white coat flapping in the wind. Dan buttoned his jacket tonight. It remains as a relic of the High School, where we met over 20 years. To describe the current form as generous.
Dan is next to his wife, Yukiko, wearing a flowing white cheap wedding dresses Western. Behind us, a batch of 50 of his closest friends and family gathered to celebrate their marriage.
The weather is perfect. Fresh and bright, with streaks of light cumulus clouds, which appear scattered on the roofs of more than 2000 temples and shrines of Kyoto on the hook.
It's a peaceful scene, happy, much of what is living in Japan in March, when an earthquake and tsunami devastated much of the north-east coast and caused the nuclear reactor accident Fukushima. Lost, and more than 18,000 lives and the devastating effects on public health and the environment still plays in Germany, the Japanese economy has been emptied. After the national police in Japan, more than 45,500 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged, the total economic impact could reach more than $ 300 million.
Tourism, which was on the rise, fell in April, there were only 60 percent of pre-disaster. Six months later, tourism is more than 30 percent.
But when an American friend who lives in Japan told me, got married, I knew I would. Dan has lived in Japan for 12 years, teaches English at the University of Kyoto.
His house in Kyoto hidden in a narrow street in a quiet street, a classic two-stage paper sliding doors in each room and easy access to the river and the Imperial Palace.
"We have good market," said Dan, pointing out the window, "why." It overlooks a cemetery, a feature that most Japanese consider unlucky.
Yukiko, his wife to be served, fried tofu, and disappeared from the wedding night of logistics busy reciting.
The next morning I waited in Kyoto.
The city is located in the Yamashiro Basin is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Wild animals live in the rivers, the abundance of Japanese maples bright red every autumn to spring explosion of cherry and plum, nature is an integral part of the city.
Kyoto is the cultural identity is so strong. Once the imperial capital of Japan for centuries, the city has more than 1,600 Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and 600 17 UNESCO World Heritage Site, now integrates seamlessly with the neon lights around concrete and crowds, who are the face of Japan Modern joined.
To show a softer side of town, I went to Shunkoin Temple. Founded in 1590, is the sanctuary of Myoshin-ji, a complex of 46 temples in the northwest of Kyoto. Shunkoin offers simple accommodation in five double rooms, with the teaching of Zen meditation resident monk Takafumi Kawakami, 60 percent drop in bookings after the race by the tsunami, he said.
The next day, a cycle of Ninna-ji, the heritage of the ninth century the temple. I visited the Goths, a series of elegant buildings modeled after the Imperial Palace, and marveled at the five-storied pagoda.
Shunkoin is ideally placed to cause fatigue of the temple, beside Ninna-ji, the rock garden Ryoan-ji and Kinkaku-ji temple gold are just a bike ride of 20 minutes. Everyone deserves hours of exploration.
But it was time for the wedding of Dan.
The day passed in a blur. First, the traditional Shinto ceremony Shimogamo, a sanctuary more in northern Kyoto, with radiant in a white kimono, Yukiko.
Then the wedding dresses party heads Mankamero, a restaurant in continuous operation for over 280 years. The food comes in waves: salmon and tuna sashimi, scallops with sweet potato, perfectly seasoned and served in the blue and white pottery, the color of the carpet, where we sat echo. The water seeps into the restaurant with a small garden to see where we are sitting on both doors open shoji paper. Good fluidity and Asahi.
When the sun goes down, and Dan and Yukiko front of friends and family. Six months after the Japanese drama, we celebrate something new.
The storm was finally adopted.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario