Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil (September 13th)

The night before our day off, Bobby called me and said for us to meet him at
the train station in the morning.   He said to pack a bag because we would
be staying overnight.   "Ummm.ok."  He also invited Lenny (our minor league
manager), his wife Shane, and Gary.  I had no idea where we were going or
what he had planned (much to Sara's chagrin.  She had no idea what to pack).
I just knew that any day with Bobby would definitely be an adventure.   

The next morning Sara and I wake up at 7 a.m. to meet Bobby and the gang at
Kahim-Makuhari train station.  We were met by Bobby's old interpreter,
Jimi-san, from when Bobby managed the Marines for one year in 1996.  He put
this whole thing together when he heard that Bobby had never seen a famous
part of Japan called Nikko.  It is said that if you visit Japan and don't
see Nikko, then you never really saw Japan.  Jimi contacted a couple friends
to take care of us and show us around. Bobby was nice enough to invite us to
tag along.  You're not gonna believe what all we got to do.  

We rode into Tokyo and met Jimi-san's good friend, Takubo-san.  He bought
everybody Shinkonsen tickets (the bullet train) and we were off, heading
north of Tokyo, up into the mountains.   After about an hour ride, we arrive
at our destination.  We go outside the station and are met by Takubo-san's
good friend Suzuki-san.  He is super nice. Suszuki escorts us to our PRIVATE
tour bus.  It looked like something our baseball team would travel around
in.  This is when we realized this would be a first class operation.  

We board the bus and drive about 45 minutes up into the mountains until we
arrive at Nikko.  Nikko is a beautiful area on the side of a mountain,
sporting numerous shrines, temples, pagodas, and beautifully manicured
landscaping.  The Toshogu Shrine is the main attraction.  It is where the
original Shogunate lived back in the early 1600's.  (The title of Shogun was
reserved for the most powerful ruler in Japan, who was protected by special
warriors called samurais.)  

We pull up to park at the shrines headquarters and guess who is outside the
bus? Samurais! (They were dressed up for a movie being filmed).  We stop for
a quick photo op, and keep moving inside where we are met by the head priest
of The Toshogu Buddhist Temple and Shrine, Inaba-san.   This is a very
special honor, because the priest usually only meets with heads of state and
dignitaries.  The last person to dine with him was the Prime Minister of New
Zealand!  We are led up stairs to his private dining room.  A long table
with exquisite place settings and wall to wall windows over looking some of
the property's famous 600 year old cedar trees that dot the landscape.  The
trees are considered national treasures and cannot be touched, but if they
were to be sold, each tree would go for $700,000 each.   We sit down and the
priest thanks us for coming, raises his wine glass and "kompei's" us.  How
Cool!  The food was phenomenal!  Traditional Japanese cuisine, including
seafood dumplings, tempura vegetables, beef tenderloin, tofu and greens
salad, pickled veggies, soba noodles, sushi, bread, and more.  We dine and
drink while the priest teaches us about the history of the temple.  He has
lived on the property for 48 years.  Aside from being the residence of the
first Shogun, the shrine is most famous for being the original location
where the phrase, "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil", comes from.
The samurais were taught to never disclose any information they heard or
saw, to protect the Shogun and his land.  Carved into one of the shrines is
three monkeys covering there eyes, ears, and mouth.   Ha!   I feel like I'm
in some sort of movie.  Sara and I can't stop giggling because we can't
believe how lucky we are.  We savor the food, wine, and beer and it's time
for our guided tour.  Inaba-san's son guided our tour (who was educated at
UC Santa Barbara), taking us thru all the
temples, shrines, pagodas, explaining as he went.  We take pics and marvel
at the details carved into the shrines and temples.  It took some 15,000
artisans over 2 years to construct and build it.  

We eventually make it to one of the buildings of worship.  The guide has us
take off our shoes and enter the sacred building for a private prayer
service to bring us good luck and fortune.  I notice we are the only ones
that get this privilege.  Come to find out, VERY few people get to do this.
We sit down and a Buddhist priest starts banging on a big "gong" and
chanting in some unrecognizable tongues.  He stands and waves flags and
shakes bells, all while half chanting, half singing.  We sit quietly,
wondering what the heck is going on.  He holds a script in his hand and
starts asking the gods for good health and good fortune.  I hear him say
"Lotte Marines", Bobby Valentine, and then I hear mine and Sara's name.  Ha!
I'm mesmerized by the whole thing.  Then of course he has to call us up in
front of the "altar" to do a ceremonial offering to the Buddhist gods.  (I
hope my god wasn't pissed)  Anyways, Gary and Bobby go first.  The priest
hands them a branch from what looks like a fig tree.  You are to bow, place
the branch on the alter, clap twice, bow twice, clap once,  then bow once,
and head back to your seat with the next two people repeating the same
routine.  Sounds easy right?  Well Gary, half drunk from the wine at lunch,
takes the branch and accidentally DROPS it on the floor!  (In Japan, it is
not proper to put things on the floor).  Inaba-san quickly grabs a new
branch for Gary before the Buddhist gods unleashed their fury on us.  Way to
go Gary.  Sara and I perform the ritual with no problem and the ceremony
ended shortly there after.  We bow deeply to the priest and exit the temple.
Its not every day you get to do that!

We keep walking up the path, checking out a couple more buildings, the
Shoguns' gravesite and then its time to head back down.  By now the entire
place has realized Bobby is in their presence.  There are hordes of people
following us around trying to touch and talk to Bobby.  After a couple more
photo ops, we are escorted thru the private grounds and back to our tour
bus.  We meet again with the head priest for coffee and dessert.  We are
presented with personalized, hand painted wooden plates with the three
monkeys on one side, and Japanese writing on the other side, wishing us luck
and good fortune.  How cool!   We thank him again, take pics, and hop back
on the bus.  

Our bus takes off up the mountain side, twisting and turning, meandering for
about 45 minutes until we are damn near in the clouds.  The views back down
the mountain are breathtaking.  We get to the top of the mountain and there
is a beautiful lake with mountains surrounding every side.  We drive by the
lake, gasping at its beauty.  We head away from the lake and park.  We hop
out, not knowing what we were doing, but I hear water falling.  We walk down
this trail and we are overlooking a gorgeous water fall.  The river from the
lake splits in two just above the waterfall, making two waterfalls side by
side.  The green trees billow over the rocks in unison with the water.  We
take a couple pics, admire its beauty and hop back on the bus.  

Just when I thought I couldn't handle any more mind blowing nature, we pull
into another parking lot, get off the bus, buy a couple tickets and hop in
an elevator.  We take the elevator DOWN thirty stories, get out, walk thru
an underground tunnel and get spit out at the base of a 350 foot
waterfall!!!   I've seen a lot of waterfalls in my day, but none (besides
Niagara) have compared to this.   The observation deck was at the base of
the canyon which made for a really cool angle for viewing the waterfall.  We
take some more pics and marvel once again at one of Gods gorgeous creations.
The power, the sound, the beauty, I just shake my head and thank my lucky
stars that I get to see things like this.  

We head back down the mountain, enjoying the views, and telling stories.
Bobby's stories are classic.  He told the story of when he played for Tommy
Lasorda when he was 19 in AAA and made 54 errors as their Shortstop!
Anyways, by now it's around 6:30 p.m. and we pull into the hotel we will be
staying in for the night.  WOW!!  It's a luxury Japanese style hotel,
sporting numerous "onsens" (hot baths), pool tables, karaoke, dining, and
more.  We are greeted by the hostess who personally guides us to our room.
It's a quant little room with two "yukatas" for us to put on.  "Yukatas" are
light weight kimonos (robes if you don't know what a kimono is).  Our
hostess helps us put them on.  They have to be worn a certain way.of course.
She ties Sara's sash in a beautiful knot around her waist, and helps me do
the same.  We looked like true Japanese.  (Well Sara did, my blonde hair and
red beard gave me away.)  The men headed straight for the "onsen" to relax
before we had to meet for dinner.  (The "onsen" was pretty over rated.  It's
pretty much a big indoor hot-tub that you share with a bunch of other naked
dudes).  Anyways, after soaking for about 30 minutes, we got out, put our
Yukatas back on and headed to meet the women for our 7:30 dinner.  

We are greeted outside the restaurant by three real life geishas! (Geishas
are traditional hostesses who serve and entertain you)  The geishas lead us
to our private dining room.  We take off our slippers and sit down on the
floor in front of an exquisitely decorated table with our first course
already on the table.  The geishas ask what we will have to drink.  Sara and
I both chose beer.  They fill our glasses and would continue to fill them
before they would even get half empty.  Mine and Sara's personal geisha
knelt in front of us, staring, anticipating any way she could assist us.
Talk about service!!!  The courses started coming and didn't stop for 2
hours!  We had sashimi sushi, a whole trout, miso soup, salad, scallops,
pork Shabu-Shabu (pork and veggies cooked in hot water right at your table),
and much more.  During our meal, the geishas would periodically get up and
entertain us.  They would sing and do dances that have been passed down
for hundreds of years.  Each move made with perfect precision from years of
practice.  The singing was tough on the ears, but I guess samurais and
Shoguns liked it that way.  We clap and cheer them on.  After they finished
dancing, they told us we had to play a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" with
them.  But the loser had to remove a piece of clothing!  Strip Row-Sham-bow!
Jimi-san went first, but had added a couple garments, obviously experienced
and not wanting to get naked.  I went next.  The game consisted of doing a
little dance involving swinging an imaginary bat, throwing, catching,
running the bases and then "throwing"  down your sign at the end of the
dance.  I lose and remove my sash.  We do the dance again and I throw down
and lose again!  I remove my Yukata, leaving me with only my underwear on.
We play one more time and I lose AGAIN!  Not knowing if this is for real, I
start to drop trow when Bobby and Sara holler for me to stop. 
I put my clothes back on and Gary does the same thing, losing every throw
down.  He too gets down to his underwear and calls it quits.  These Geishas
are masters at Rock, Paper, Scissors!  

We wrap up dinner after God knows how many glasses of beer and Sake', and
head to the Karaoke parlor!  We are feeling no pain and are darn near
fighting for the mike.  Sara is picking songs for me to sing and keeps
picking the hardest songs ever.  The Temptations, Ray Charles, and Michael
Jackson!  Thanks Sara.  I butcher all the songs, but no one really cares.
We are all singing, dancing, and drinking in full Yukatas and slippers.  Who
does that?  At around 11 p.m. Cinderella (Sara) is starting to turn into a
pumpkin.  We sing one last song and call it a night.  We say goodnight to
everyone and head to our room to crash.  What a Day!!!

We get up early the next morning, eat the complimentary buffet breakfast,
and get back on our tour bus.  We get to the train station and say our
goodbyes and thank you's to Suzuki-san, Takubo-san, and Jimi-san.  Me, Gary
and Lenny go on to Urawa for practice, while the women and Bobby head back
to Chiba.  

What an amazing experience.  Playing baseball in Japan can be extremely
stressful and frustrating, but days like this put things in perspective and
completely make up for the trying times.  Life is about enjoying the
journey, and I am so lucky to have people like my wife, Bobby, and Gary that
embrace life's adventures and live life to the fullest.  I am so blessed to
be able to see and do these things.  I will treasure these memories for a
lifetime. 

See ya on down the road,
Chase