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JAPAN in March
The first big trip was to Japan at the end of March. The tsunami disaster was such a shock and my heart felt frozen with the news.
I was in touch with my Japanese friends as soon as I could reach them and they were all well but the thought of the impending nuclear disaster was too horrible to fathom. My annual Japan Music Meditation tour was cancelled and I was wondering if I should still go. Everyday I read about the condition of the nuclear reactors and then one evening while eating at a traditional Japanese restaurant I just knew
I was being called to Japan. Two weeks after the disaster I arrived in Tokyo to an empty airport. Surreal is the word that kept coming to me throughout that trip. You know those super long corridors in airports
that have the moving sidewalks? I was walking with Steve in the semi-dark (electricity was being saved and so lights were very dim in public buildings) and we were the only people in the huge corridor.
Another very surreal scene were all the empty cherry blossom gardens.
The arrival of the cherry blossoms is a huge celebration in Japan and there are always festivals and events going on throughout the country and people taking a million pictures. This year the cherry blossoms were seen in silence. The whole country was in mourning and there was that hushed stillness you feel at a memorial or funeral.
The arrival of the cherry blossoms is a huge celebration in Japan and there are always festivals and events going on throughout the country and people taking a million pictures. This year the cherry blossoms were seen in silence. The whole country was in mourning and there was that hushed stillness you feel at a memorial or funeral.
My friends were so grateful I had come and I was so happy to see them all.
Steve and I participated in a Healing Music and Dance Benefit for Japan.
I was so grateful I could offer my music to help. It was a beautiful and poignant time for me at my temple there.
During this trip I was also offering a small memorial at the temple for a loved one.
Because of the cancelled tour I arrived on a different day then originally planned - the one day in the year that all the paper offerings are burned in a big ceremony. There was incense smoke and ash everywhere and it was huge release of all the grief from the past year, including the grief from the tragedy.
I love my temple and I am so blessed to have the energy of this sacred site in my life.
My heart was ripped apart from the experiences from this trip.
When I was travelling home in the plane I felt a multitude of souls moving
on. Time has healed my heart but of course I have been changed by this healing.
A big part of my heart is always in Japan and even more so after this year.
I have concluded my fundraising efforts for Japan and I would like to
thank all the friends who have donated their time, love, and funds to
help raise over $5,000. The money has been donated to my friend who is
a doctor and head of a hospital in Nagoya. Please go to my website and
click on the Japan section to read about his visit to help in the devastated areas.
- copyright - debbie danbrook an excerpt from the 2011 healing music memoirs a
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