Day 2: Eyeballs for Breakfast and a Cookie with My Name on It
March 9th 2025
Today I start walking.
Like, really walking. Not "walked to Whole Foods in yoga pants" walking. I mean actual, soul-searching, sweat-soaked, blister-forming pilgrimage walking. It’s happening. It’s real. And it all started with eyeballs.
🍳 Breakfast Chronicles: Eyeballs and Existentialism
Breakfast this morning was…eyeball-forward. An entire school of tiny fish was staring at me while I tried to maintain composure. Dried tiny krill commonly scooped as salty seasoning on rice in the morning. I stared back, trying to spiritually align with my protein source. They didn’t blink. I lost.
Not going to lie I felt a little badass for eating it. Like I was a hardcore traveler eating the weird shit.
⛩️ Temple Talk: Identity Crisis at Temple 2
I arrived at Temple 2 feeling pumped — sun shining, staff in hand, full of fish confidence. Then I had to fill out my osamefuda slips (you leave one at each temple hall with your name, origin, the date, and a wish), and after writing “Rachel, Los Angeles, March 2025, purpose” over and over, I started to get bored. Sudden it dawned on me. Its so you don’t forget. Its to remind you over and over to not lose sense of who you are, where you are from, and what you want. Maybe this is the lesson: repetition until realization.
Per temple procedure I lit 3 incense with the intention of connecting my past, present and future. It felt symbolic and powerful...until I snapped the incense stick in half at Temple 2. So maybe that connection was on a delay. It seemed to me light a bad sign.
🦶 Blister Report & Casual Equipment Abandonment
By Temple 3, I was hungry and hot and had my first experience with a temple bathroom. Accidentally followed a group of men and ended up waiting in line behind some urinals. Oops.
Also took a small sip from the cleansing water even though it looked vaguely suspicious. If I die, tell people I died bravely. Either way I will lose a few pounds.
Temple 3 is also where my stick and hat met their final fate. They were cute for photos, but wildly impractical. The stick was annoying to hold, and I would rather roll hands-free. My hat was large and bulky and I felt like it the neck strap choked me whenever the wind blew.
Tended to my first blister in the graveyard behind the temple, which sounds spooky, but was actually peaceful. Realized I forgot to pay for my stay last night and immediately felt like a bad pilgrim. At the first place I paid at night, and just walked out in the morning. So I did the same thing this morning forgetting I did not pay.
Also — again snapped my incense stick. Past. Present. Future. Cracked in half. Not sure if I should be worried or just poetic about it. Clearly they are very delicate. Maybe there is a lesson there.
👵 People I Met (Who Definitely Know the Dodgers)
In the most insane act of fate I as I walked to the convenience store I ran into the lady who ran the hotel I forgot to pay for this morning! What are the odds - and she had her credit card machine with her. She let me pay her while standing on the side of the road. I felt like I cleared some karmic debt.
Later, as I rested at a bus stop bench I chatted with two toothless old men who were beyond excited to learn I was from Los Angeles. They didn’t speak much English, but they knew the Dodgers, and that’s all that mattered.
✨ Weird & Wonderful Moments
On the way to Temple 4, I took a shortcut through the woods. Felt like a badass spiritual ninja... until I remembered Japan has snakes. I was in the woods for only about 20 minuets but something about the quiet, and how far away I was from home made it seem more difficult. It was there I started writing a poem about the journey. Something about that first trek through the woods inspired me to be creative. I had not written a poem since high school. The calling was loud. I decided to write 1 short line, or even 1 word throughout the walk whenever I felt inspired and when I reached the finish line the poem would be complete.
At Temple 4, I accidentally rang the bell twice, which is apparently bad luck. There was a confusing pulley system — I swear it wasn't my fault. To counteract the spiritual faux pas, I gave money to the toilet god. Yes, there is a toilet god. He lives in a tiny shrine near the restroom to watch you being nasty.
A sweet lady who worked at the stamp office gave me a cookie once she saw that I was walking. It made me feel respected like she could see I wan’t doing it by car, I was doing it the hard way.
🍜 Nightcap: Noodles and Grandmas
On the walk to Temple 5, an old couple tried to ask where I was from, but the Google Translate situation was tragic. They kept talking into the wrong side of the phone. It was adorable.
Temple 5 ended up being my favorite — calm, shaded, and full of good energy. It had a secret passage of statues that cost 200 yen. I was speechless. It was cold and dark and spooky, I felt like if I looked too long I could see the statues move their eyes.
I made my way to my night 2 accommodation and the kind woman helped me make a reservation for a stay a few days from now, and I had udon noodles that could bring a tear to your eye. It felt like I was was included in dinner with her family. Her kids were doing homework nearby and their grandma watched me fumble with my chopsticks and laughed in that you sweet, clueless child kind of way. It was perfect.
📊 Day 1 Summary
Spiritual Enlightenment: 6.5/10 (double bell ding ding = minus one point)
Blisters: 1, plus emotional soreness
Hat and Stick Casualties: 2
Toothless Dodgers Fans: 2
Cookies with My Name on Them: 1 — but spiritually, a 10
