Posted in: Ana & Isa's Blog, Journal On The Road, On The Road | By Isa

Dear friends,

Thanks for reading this blog! Greetings from Kansai, the Western (though Southern) part of Japan! Ana and I, along with our  crew took a fabulous Shinkansen ride from Fukuoka on October 13 to Osaka. We are staying in a small business hotel, Toyoko-Inn, just 5 minutes from the Shin Osaka (New Osaka) station, not in the heart of downtown Osaka. It’s nice because there are many more trees and hills compared to Tokyo, even though the hotel is right near the train station.

Right after we arrived on the 13th, Ana and I and a few film crew head out to the massive Osaka University Hospital by train, and met with the world renowned heart transplant physician and transplant advocate Dr Fukushima. He, along with Mr Ohkubo, head of Japan Transplant Recipient Organzation, both together are responsible for the passage of the Plan A, the new law passed July 17 2009, which allows children to donate and recive organ transplants in Japan, and officially recognizes brain death as death for people who want to donate their organs to save lives. Because there is no public advocacy or patient/family letter writing campain system in Japan, Mr Ohkubo and Dr Fukushima personally met each of the 400 members of the Japanese Parliament (Diet) to persuade them about the importance of the transplant law. Their efforts are remarkable; Dr Fukushima paid for his transportation and hotel in Tokyo out of his own pocket!!! This is truly heroic leadership.

While I dance with Fukushima sensei (dr) at the wild transplant games party, at our interview he was polite, reserved, and very sweet to us. We chatted for about 30 minutes about the transplant system, especially about his challenges as a heart transplant physician. we’ve heard many donor families are willing to donate any organ but the heart, because the heart symbolizes the “soul” or “center” of the person- the kokoro, and even one donor mother said she can write letters to every recipient of her donor daughter’s recipients, except the heart recipient, because it’s just too difficult.

Dr Fukushima kindly offered to be interviewed for our film, so after a good 1 hour we said our goodbyes, and head by monorail back to our hotel. Happily, we arrived to the hotel with cheers and greetings, as my mom and Ana’s fiance Trent had arrived from San Francisco. After a brief rest, we met again for dinner at an okonomiyaki place- this is a meal where meat and cabbage are mixed with pancake batter and pan fried. It was very tastey though the service was painfully slow.

We slept very well. The next morning, 10-14, we took care of some financial business and project planning issues in the early morning, and around 11am nearly the entire film crew and Ana, Isa, Trent, Mom, Andrew and Naomi head out to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan.

After an hour long train ride, we went to Todaiji, a huge temple from 760AD which houses a massice Buddha statue. We said our prayers and gave our offers, and took many impressive photos. Then we toured around, climbed us steep steps, passing rows after rows of lanterns and more Buddhist and Shinto temples and shrines.  After a brief noodle lunch with my much-desired anmitsu (Japanese red bean jello dessert), we saw Kohdama Temple, a red temple adored with hanging lanterns that are about 1000 years old.

We passed many roaming tame deer who came up to us, and begged for food. If we didn’t give them rice crackers (available for purchase) they would nip at our clothing. My mother let out a few shrieks, as did others in our group.

This was a beautiful religious site but we were accompanied by hundreds of Japanese school children on ensoku, or field trip day, so the noise and dust level was significant. But it was wonderful to see the homogenous kids in identical school uniforms enjoying the outdoors like we were. We appreciated the green hillsides and manicured bonsai-like pine trees all over. The day was truly a much needed walk-through-the – park.

We arrived back at the hotel and had a nice sushi dinner at the train station. I was starving and the waiter was a bit uneasy with me ordering two entries- but my appetite and the small portions warranted making a scene! Everyone enjoyed their delicious sushi and donbori meals. The food has been the best part of Japan!

The next day, 10-15-09, we woke early again. The film crew stayed behind to plan OUR project, Andrew stayed behind to actually work, and Ana, Trent, Tom and Mom and I went to play as tourists. We went to the famous Osaka Castle, which was build by Hirodeshi? Tokugawa around 600AD (it was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times).

We found stories about our ancient relatives, my grandmother’s ancestors who belonged to the Honda Shogun clan.  We also found our grandfather’s ancestor’s stories, who were part of the Arima clan.

We took photos of a clear sunny warm fall day, 360 degrees on the 8th floor of this castle surrounded by a moat in the heart of Osaka. Despite the hundreds of school children, we enjoyed to learn about the ancient history of Japan. There were also beautiful artistic artifacts showing ancient life as well as the earliest Portuguese and British immigrants who came to Japan in the 1500s to trade. They left their remnants, including Christian artificants, firearms that started the bloodiest shogun and civil wars, and things like canons and helmets as well as armor. It was impressive to see how similar feudal and imperial life in Japan was to the castle/battle days in Europe in the 1500s.

Overall, it was a fabulous rushed exhausting day. The weather couldn’t be better in Osaka. It was so great to be with my mother, who feels more like a foreigner now than a Japanese. Ana and Trent are enjoying their reunion despite different paces of travel. Tom is soaking it all in. I feel at home in Japan, in many ways. My feet ache, reminding me that I’m American.

Next, after the castle, we all  head back to the hotel for a quick shower before heading to Kobe. I need to write about Kobe in another blog. We were blessed with another fabulous two events yesterday. I’m finally feeling back to normal and have energy for all this tourist stuff without exerting extreme effort.

Thank you for reading this post. I wish I had more time to write more about my impressions. I go to bed each night moaning in exhaustion and achiness, so I can’t blog as much as I need to. Everything I observe, each interaction I have with my crew and new hosts and people deserves special mention. But we aren’t doing justice in these blogs that just write about our minute by minute outward activities.

Our trip is half over, and I have finally gained confidence I can make it through! A little help from Tobi and other meds helps:).

I wish you all wellness and your own personal adventure!! I’ll post again. Best wishes,

Isabel