We visited the Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park while we were on Oahu. The Byodo-In Temple was established to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigration to Hawaii. It is a replica of a 950 year old temple in Uji, Japan.
As we walked the grounds of the temple, we felt a sense of peace and tranquility despite the fact that a tour bus had just unloaded its group. I wandered around looking at the red and yellow of the temple and the gardens with their Koi fish and was instantly transported back to a summer (or was it Christmas, mom?) around my 8th grade year when I traveled with my mom and my sister to meet my dad in Okinawa, where he was stationed for a year unaccompanied. I don’t remember too much about the trip except for the jewelry shopping (I still have several pieces still even today), the toilets that were so different from anything I had ever seen and the noodle dishes (which was about the only thing I would eat while we were there).
A friend of mine recently moved to Japan for work and following her pictures on Facebook has brought out a rather large green monster of jealousy! My husband and I have been talking about how great a trip to Japan would be but with four plane tickets to purchase and other travel plans it just isn’t in the cards for the next few years. Until then, I will look at the pictures from the Byodo-In Temple and continue to dream.
The Byodo-In Temple is open for visits from 9am to 5pm. There is a small admission fee of $3 per person or $1 per child. It is located at 47-200 Kahekili Highway in Kaneohe, Hawaii.
Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what other travelers are dreaming about for Monday Dreaming!
Looks like a really peaceful place. What an adventurous trip to have made as a youngster too! Must have kick started a real love for travel.
Japan does seem huge somehow, doesn’t it? Especially from the East Coast. I’d like to find a way to get there too.
We took the kids to Japan for 18 days 3.5 years ago. It really was quite the adventure! We spent a week in Okinawa and then the remainder of the time traveling in Honshu — Hiroshima, Kyoto, Hakone, Tokyo, Disney. Despite the challenges of food (the kids and I are vegetarians) and the language (oh, and the toilets too), we had a wonderful time.
Thankfully we had frequent flier miles to cover most of the cost of the plane tickets! I hope that you’ll get there someday soon …
http://gwyneth.butera.org/date/2008/06/