Welcome to Day #101 of our "365 Parks in 365 Days" adventure! Wow!! I like to think that I'm accomplishing something significant, and the feeling deepens with the responses I get from you. Thank you!
Our guest tour guide Ranger Soskin's poignant stories of catharsis taking place at Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park elicited responses such as:
"Wow! All I can say is Wow! Audrey, this is one of the most passionate, full of wisdom, full of realism of all of your posts so far! What an incredible woman! I want to be that together, when I grow up :-)" Arden, Delaware, (which recently got its first park unit)
"LOVE this!" Stuart, Florida.
"I clicked on every link and read every story. Wow! You have ascended to a higher plane, magnetized to attract loving people and causality and engage in purposeful dissemination. You are the gifted traveler with a gifted and loving partner. Truth chooses you to reveal itself." Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
The Peerless One, Mt. Fuji is on the verge of becoming a World Heritage Site, part of the heritage of all humanity. Independent Traveler Photo.
With affirmations like that, I am inspired to keep going and growing. Yesterday I learned that the human race is on the verge of being even more enriched as Mount Fuji is poised to be designated a World Heritage Site, meaning it is an exceptional place of 'outstanding universal value' and 'belongs to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which it is located'. Wow!!
The official call will be made when UNESCO's World Heritage Committee convenes in Cambodia this June at which time Mount Fuji will join such World Heritage sites in the U.S. Park System as the world's tallest trees at Redwood , the Earth's longest underground passageways at Mammoth Cave, North America's largest assemblage of glaciers and peaks above 16,000 feet at Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay, and the world's greatest geyser system at Yellowstone.
Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is ringed with verdant forests and lakes, and it's crowning glory is Mt. Fuji. Japan Web Photo.
Mount Fuji, in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, is a perfectly conically shaped dormant volcano, which last erupted in 1708. At 12,388 feet, it is Japan's highest mountain and has been worshiped as a sacred mountain since ancient times. Mount Fuji is also said to be one of the nation's most sacred spots and one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains," alongside Mt. Tate and Mt. Haku. The reputation stems from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a 10th Century Japanese folktale that is one of the nation's oldest stories. The Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park includes four sections; Mt. Fuji area, Hakone area, Izu Peninsula and Izu Islands consisting of verdant forests and sparkling lakes. But one can gather the esteem in which Mount Fuji is held as it is the iconic image of Japan.
Frank and I had the opportunity to visit Japan in 2004 and take in Mount Fuji with our own spellbound eyes. We were accompanied by our friend Bess Covington, who subsequently wrote this story for me. Bess died last year, and re-reading her story, I am reminded that she experienced heaven on earth before she left us.
On Day # 101, it's a pleasure to revisit Mount Fuji, the Peerless One, soon to be a treasure of the entire human family with our departed friend Bess.
"I read 'Shogun A Novel of Japan' by James Clavell in the late '70s and in 1980 when the mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain came on TV I was glued to my set every night. My fascination with Japan had begun. Later that year, I visited a friend in Hawaii. At the airport, my friend took a photo of me with a JAL airplane in the background.
"When I returned home and looked at that photo, I thought, 'So close and yet so far away.' I resolved that m next trip would be to Japan. But I went to Africa, Canada, Europe (twice) and various places in the USA over the next 24 years, and Japan slipped to the back of my mind.
Bess Covington, (r) toured the world accompanying our friend Jazz Singer Joan Cartwright, (l) and particularly loved Japan.
"Then last March at a seminar for Mahikari-no-Waza ("The Art of Divine Light") I learned that a group of Kamikumites (Kami, God,) (Kumite, hand in hand) students of the Divine Light teachings from North America and all over the world were going to Japan for 'The 45th Grand Anniversary Festival.' I decided that this was my opportunity.
I immediately checked out Pimsler's 'Japanese, the Short Course'" from the library. I listened to the CDs every time I got in my car. I was delighted to learn more about Japan as I checked out and red many books, fiction and non-fiction.
"When the day finally arrived, I met my friends Audrey and Frank Peterman at the Atlanta airport. After the 15-hour plane ride, we arrived at Tokyo International and were met by Japanese Kamikumites. We spent the night at Narita Rest House near the airport, and our hosts took us by train and bus to a nearby mall, where Audrey and I fell in love with the 100 yen (dollar) store. We loaded up on souvenirs and sampled fried octopus, Japanese 'fast food.'
"Next day on the bus ride to Su-Za, the World Main Shrine, I learned about the flora and fauna of Japan, as Frank pointed out from the bus window different birds, flowers and plants. (Kudzu - the vine that is eating up North Georgia because it has no natural predators here, was brought from Japan.) As the bus inched along in Atlanta-style traffic, I took photos of very tall buildings, houses, rice fields, a 7-11 store, a KFC, a McDonald's, a Denny's and my tour-mates.
First stop: Tokyo Tower, which at 333 meters is 13 meters taller than its model, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and which was completed in 1958 as a symbol of Japan's rebirth as a major economic power. From the 250 meter Special Observatory level, I caught my first view of beautiful, white coned Mt. Fuji! Mount Fuji is the main attraction of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, but almost everywhere we went we had a view of its majestic, mysterious form.
The bus approached Su-Za in the afternoon as a light rain fell. The Main Shrine gleamed in the distance, above the natural environs like a diamond in an engagement ring. When the sun came out, we saw an even more impressive sight facing Su-Za: Mt. Fuji, (Fuji means peerless one.) Spectacular!
With the Festival scheduled to begin at 2 am, we were up and in motion by 1. Hundreds of buses loaded with people poured into Su-Za and as I walked to the Shrine in pre-dawn darkness with hundreds of people, I realized that 'this is my first spiritual pilgrimage.' Our friend Barbara, Audrey and I started singing, 'When the Saints Go Marching In' and the people around us joined in. We were a joyful group.
The clouds covered and uncovered the bright full moon casting an aura of other-worldliness over the area. A shooting star fell during the ceremony and was taken to be an omen of God's blessings. I was uplifted with hope for all humankind as we joined in the ceremony and prayed with 60,000 devotees for the 'Dawn of True Human History,'changing humanity from the Competitive Principle to the Cooperative Principle, where we may live in peace and harmony. We were urged to "think peace" and visualize a spiritual civilization.
"I had read that the Japanese people view politeness as essential for existing in a peaceful society. I noticed many people on the streets hurriedly rushing about their lives.. . While we gawked excitedly at practically everything and everyone, I did not notice people staring at us, though I did feel that they were very aware of our presence - in a 'look at the crazy tourists' kind of way.
"I'd read that Tokyo, with its skyscrapers and 12 million population, is a 'bustling metropolis.' I marveled at the city lights, the subways, the malls, the traffic only a few miles from rice fields beside the roads, with the towering image of Mount Fuji in Hakone-Izu National Park always keeping watch in the back ground. . .
God speed, my sister Bess!Your joy lives on beyond you...
