Christmas 2019 - Kyoto, Japan

Today was Christmas Day in Japan. Otherwise know as Wednesday. I woke up this morning to 39 degrees.....Christmas morning in Kyoto...one day ahead of Christmas at home. Surreal. As always it was very quiet here. Knowing the sun was due to shine today, I decided to finally make my way to Kinkakuji, “The Golden Pavilion”. It has been on my list and after 6 months in Kyoto I have not made my way to this famous temple, just a few short miles from my house.

Being Christmas morning, I decided I would do something special and paid a visit to my favorite coffee shop, Corazon. I have discovered that coffee is nothing short of a higher art form in Japan and practiced with diligence and dedication, as with so many things in Japan. Having now sampled their freshly roasted and ground Indonesian, Costa Rican, and Corazon blends, today I opted for Kenyan for Christmas, upon the recommendation of my newly discovered "coffee teacher."

Watching the process was again another lesson in the art of Japanese attention to detail and excellence. Water was boiled separately, then poured into a stainless steel pitcher until it settled at 82 degrees. Boiling water was poured into the cup to heat it. Coffee beans were freshly ground. The paper filter was precisely folded and placed into the drip filter. Once ready, the art of the pour began. A key step in the process is never to pour hot coffee into a cold cup. Boiling water sits in the cup unit it is time to pour. Precisely. Beginning at the center then making 3 loops out toward the edge without touching the filter with water. 5-6 times repeated. Japanese precisely. Thus far, my favorite cup of coffee. I then watched as another cup was prepared in painstaking detail for another customer, then discarded because the milk was not at exactly the correct temperature. Not by complaint of the customer, but by the level of commitment of the owner to his craft.

Today may have been just another Wednesday in Kyoto, but my thoughts and heart were with loved ones celebrating Christmas Eve back at home. My internal time clock seems to always remain in sync with Austin, so I walk through my days here as if they were nights and often I am wide awake in the middle of the night, still after half a year.

Today I listened to a Zen teacher in America as I walked the temple garden and then the streets on this beautiful sunny day in Kyoto. I have been sensing my time here has served its purpose for many weeks now and I have been restless and low on energy. I have already easily experienced a year or two within the time frame of 6 months here and a lifetime of lessons and discoveries to process and incorporate into my life. As I take the month of January to simply be quiet and listen, my path seems to be making its way known to me.