2016.4.22

It was fine.
They say today is Earth Day and also full moon. I do not know what to do on this day but for me it became a very special day and a good start to do something new.

I took a day off to attend Mr. Koya Yamakawa's open lecture at Tasho University in the afternoon. It is a Buddhist university which I visited for the first time. Buildings looked new and beautiful. The lecture was about 30 years of translation career. He used to be a government official and diplomat, and after 40 years old he started translating. The first book was "Out on a Limb" by Shirley Maclaine. I have read many books translated by Mr. and Mrs. Yamakawa and their own books for more than a quarter century. The lecture was fascinating. He sang five songs too. After the lecture I asked him autograph and picture.

After that I saw the photography exhibition at the same building of the lecture and visited the pagoda which I happened to find at the exit. On the top of the pagoda I happened to make friends with someone that also attended the lecture. We decided to have tea and started looking for the place. Then we happened to see Mr. Yamakawa again and we visited Togenukijizo (とげぬき地蔵) in Sugamo together. After that we had dinner together.
He kindly invited me to a special event in Shimokitazawa. We thought it was a concert, but it was not. It was the Empowerment Ceremony Vesak Fullmoon Festival presented by Yantara Jiro.  When we entered the venue, most people were wearing white clothes. I was so surprised to see them and felt a bit worried. I did not know what happened but it was something I did not know.

After coming back, I could see the fullmoon though it was rather cloudy. They say there are meteor shower too, but I did not see them.

There were something I was going to do this evening, but totally unexpected good things happened and I enjoyed this change a lot.

To my surprise I happened to become Facebook friends with someone that has a mutual Spanish-French friend who used to live in New York.

So many "happened to" things, but they must be necessity.

What a spiritual day it is!