For the first time in a long time I visited the Meiji Shrine this
weekend. I don’t recognize myself as particularly conservative, but pay my
respects there because the shrine fulfilled my wish for getting accepted by the
first choice university. As a high school senior, my classmate took us there as
the last resort before the entrance exams.
Over thirty years later, the shrine became international. All
kinds of languages – English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and even many others I couldn’t
recognize – were written on wooden votive plaques (絵馬) to make wishes.
French wine barrels were placed on the opposite side of the approach from
Japanese sake barrels to demonstrate Japan-France friendship (wow!)
The one I pulled as a high school student was “however thorny the path ahead of you might be, be determined to take it because that is what brings you significant life.” Well, this has been true my entire life, I guess...
