April 18, 2005

I went for lunch briefly today and found that I had more time than what I had thought so I went for a walk. I am starting to notice just how new my neighbourhood is. I was walking around Tsudanuma today and it dawned on me that the area is much older than what I am used to. There are older shops with full homes on the back of them. The roads are much more narrow and there are little nooks and crannies all over with intriguing sites of delapitated buildings or beautiful gardens or shrines to see. I even came across a temple. I will have to go back on a day when I have even more time. I find that I'm coming across these shrines and temples and I don't want to venture any further than the side walk. I am so afraid of offending someone and going up stairs that I shouldn't feel free to go up, or walking into some Buddhist ritual that I should not be disturbing. I guess it is a fear of being thought of as a tourist. "Those darn foreigners. Thinking they can walk where ever they please. Just because something looks intriguing to you it doesn't mean that you can just walk in and explore". That's what I'm afraid of provoking in a person.