Word: zenkoji
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...China or pro-Tibet demonstrators, Japanese nationalists and human rights organizations flooded air already full of the colors of Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese flags. "Clearly, the mix of demonstrators shows that Japan is a peaceful nation after all," said Shinjyo Anzai, a monk of the Buddhist temple, Zenkoji, which refused to act as the starting point for the torch relay for security reasons and out of sympathy for Tibetan Buddhism. "Change won't come from the top - it comes from citizens with different opinions, and each needs to recognize the existence of the other...
...torch relay in Nagano came off without serious incident because it had to. The public was not allowed at the car park where the relay began at 8:30 a.m., after the Zenkoji monks held a prayer ceremony for victims of the recent uprising in Tibet. Shortly afterwards, pro-Chinese demonstrators yelled "Zhongguo, jia you!" (which means "China, go for it!") at pro-Tibet demonstrators who yelled back "Free Tibet." That dialogue continued at high volume throughout most of the 5-hour relay...
...Olympic village," she declared firmly. "But I've got to focus on my own thing right now and do what's good for me." Conventional wisdom says that Kwan should have played it differently, a little looser perhaps. But she had lighter moments, visiting a Zenkoji temple and watching Harrison Ford kick butt in Air Force One hours before doing likewise in her short program...
Throughout its history, Nagano has been renowned as a temple town, home to one of Japan's most ecumenical Buddhist centers, Zenkoji, a 40-structure complex set against the mountains. The cypress-roofed temple is the city's center of gravity, marked on all the highway signs. Zenkoji announces itself with the shock of pounding drums, the smell of burning incense, the flutter of white-paper prayers. Somewhere inside its main hall is what is said to be the first Buddha image ever to arrive in Japan, so precious that only a replica is displayed once every seven years...
...traditional magnet for Buddhist pilgrims, Zenkoji is approached past a long line of shops selling religious artifacts (though, this being Japan, they also offer pink bunnies and nudie telephone cards). Sidewalks brim with tables full of dried apricots and pumpkin seeds and sachets of apple tea. For all its modern accessories, Nagano remains a farmers' town sought out for its pickles, its horseradishes and its homemade buckwheat noodles. Next to the feminine grace notes of a Kyoto, say, the northern city feels a decidedly masculine place. Its colors are brown and black, its aesthetic one of straw and stone...