Temple Trip

We've been to the Tokyo Temple a couple of times, but have traveled on a very comfortable bus that takes us directly from Kanto Lodge (temporary lodging) on Yokota AB to The New Sanno Navy Lodge in Tokyo -- a 10 minute walk from the temple. Stress free, which we like, and so we haven't yet braved the driving traffic or public transportation for this particular trip. Our bishop and his wife invited us to go to the temple with them, via the train, and we figured that would be a good introduction, so off we went.

The evening didn't turn out exactly as planned.....  We have learned, sadly, that the suicide rate in Japan is pretty high compared to most other countries ( http://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00075/ ), and that a fairly common way of committing suicide is to throw oneself in front of a train. So when the sign reads "Train delayed Passenger injury", that's the assumption.

We had to get off the train, wait for and finally board another one with increasing numbers of passengers -- but we continued on, knowing we wouldn't make it in time for the 7:00 p.m. session, which was the only one in English and the last session of the day. I still don't know if I could get there without a guide or a lot of trepidation, what with four transfers, the final one shifting from the above ground train to the subway, and the crowds of people, even more than normal because of the delay. In any case, we had a good evening, we walked from the Hiro-o Station to the temple, walked back through different streets, ate at a little restaurant that will be a favorite for sure (!) and got back on the train to head for home.

By this time of night, the crowds were even bigger. This youtube video is a good representation of what it was like on the trains, and I am not even kidding! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-dT0vHWlpc  Workers really do help passengers crowd into the car, people sleep standing, you don't have to worry about falling over because the people pressed around you hold you up. I managed to get my cell phone out of my pocket to take a few pictures and then prayed I wouldn't drop it, knowing I'd never be able to bend over to pick it up!

Even having missed the temple sessions, it was still close to midnight when we got home, shaking our heads and chuckling over the whole experience.