Exploring.

I spent most of today exploring the streets around my dorm, ranging further than I had attempted, so far.  I decided that I wanted to understand the geographical and topographical layout of the city, thinking that maybe that would give me some insight into the so far seemingly chaotic setup of Japanese infrastructure.  After nearly four hours of walking around blocks and looking at maps, I can say that there is no pattern to anything here.  I mean, in the States, they try to make a grid and fail.  Here, there is no pretense at all to making a concurrent geometric pattern.  They are all shapes that I have just now decided can best be described as "mushy squares."  The whole situation is very distressing to me, although I really have started to remember where things are and the names of certain roadways.  Also, the hours of walking were good exercise and they led to my discovery of a couple shrines that I have pictures of on facebook and a window full of what can only be described as Cliffordtastic.

One of the shrines I found was maybe not a shrine.  It may have been some sort of daycare for very young kids or maybe just a neighborhood playground with a bunch of Shinto-looking yard statues that foreigners may misplace significance upon.  Either way, it led to one of the more surreal "I am in Japan" moments I've had.  I was walking down one of the very small walking roads between houses when I came upon a person sized slab of rock with some very pretty kanji engraved on it.  Next to the giant slab of rock was a narrow stone path built into the concrete leading up to something like a Torii gate which lead into a small playground with what looked to be some Shinto-styled statues.  During the whole time of my exploring this, I could hear what I can only assume to be a child practicing piano through one of the neighboring house windows. 

I can still hear the piano in my head right now and it's been almost 13 hours since it happened.  It was like all of my senses were flowing together and where maybe two hours before there was discord, at this moment everything synced up and I was completely in harmony with my surroundings.  The whole world was making a sound and not only was I hearing that sound, but my presence in that place made me a part of the sound.  The way I felt, standing on that worn stone path before the Torii gate, may be the closest thing I have come to having a spiritual experience. 

Maybe what I'm feeling is stress from culture shock causing my brain to have to create reasons for what I'm feeling, or maybe where I was standing was actually a Shinto shrine and the Kami who lived there deigned to take pity on the lowly wanderer before it and gave me a glimpse of something I had never before seen and currently lack the words for.  I think I will choose the latter.