Time for fun!

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't posted in a bunch of days. The ends of my trips seemed to get filled with so much. The last week of sessions, I went out to dinner with friends and also SJ staff. Then I taught my last seminar on the weekend, followed by a final meeting, and two days of fun outings. Now I am packing and prepping for my long travel back to US.

Saturday evening, I returned home to my condo after teaching, to discover a neighborhood street festival. It was beautiful and moving. All the locals come out and dance to a Taiko-drummer and other traditional music. Their movements reminded me of watching hula, including moves that looked like cranes. A very happy occasion, with children running around.
They were handing out flashing rubber plastic rings, which everyone were wearing - now one of my prized possessions!

Monday's meeting went very well, and I will be busy when I return home! Voice (the publishing branch of Synchronicity Japan) is going to produce two projects for sale in Japan! One is a 2 hour DVD, which will be filmed next trip in February. So I'll be preparing 6 - 20 minute inspirational talks with revisioning meditations. The other project will be like a game, to help people connect with their Spirit Guides. I'll be developing and creating artwork for a board, plus writing a booklet describing the system. Lots of work on a tight deadline! Good thing I had all those years experience working in graphics/advertising.

So Tuesday, finally, a fun day out of Tokyo. My friends Stacey and Koji escorted me to the top of Mt. Takao, an ancient shrine site about an hour and a half from the city center. It was still hot, but the ancient forests were a welcome relief. We took the chair lift up, hiked up and down for about 2 hours, ate ice cream, and then took the cable car down.

Here's Koji, over the 'safety' net - no risk for the Japanese. And me, enjoying the ride and feeling free!

Great to be out in nature, though even then, there are tourist shops and restaurants. The Japanese are always good at providing services (and not missing a chance for commerce!).

Here we are at the top, with the huge city sprawl behind us - it seems to go on forever! And unlike our US city suburbs, even 2 hours away from the center it is densely populated with tall buildings.

So after a day of lots of hiking, eating, sharing, laughing, and making fun plans for future trips, we rode the very steep cable car down the mountain. It was pretty much a 45 degree angle the whole way down, through tunnels and super tall trees. We met and talked with the main CEO of the place, who was also going down. He had a great sense of humor, and with Koji there, I was able to jokingly ask him to pilot the way down. So when we reached the bottom, he gave me his hat, found another for Stacey, and insisted on a photo! (Peace signs were his idea too!) What fun!

Though tired and excited to see Steve, there is a big piece of my heart that is sad to leave. I am making such wonderful friends and client connections and rewarding work. The Japanese are kind people, very open to learning new things. And they seem to like me too!

I'll post one more blog once I'm home - my day with my interpreter friend Yu-san. We went to a lake and park called Kichijoji.

Love to all,
Daeryl