I took this shot below of us American male members sleeping early morning before everyone woke up. The temple have nice mattresses a that you put a fresh sheet on. You make your own place. When you wake up you neatly stack you mattress. Nice clean sheets are provided. Prior to going to Tozan I thought that I would not enjoy the dormitory sleeping arrangements.. However being at the Temple is really quite pleasant. I certainly have gotten the opportunity to bond with many members. Tozan really gives one the opportunity to feel the spirit of Nichiren Shoshu.

You will never see a shot like this in an official Nichiren Shoshu publication. The point of these shots is to show the spirit of Tozan and the behind the scenes look. Also let us look at Japanese culture whereas the men are barefoot in the bathroom let's move down and look.

This is a shot of a father and son sleeping. This shot really touched my heart. I have a three year old son and when I saw this scene I saw a vision of myself and my son at the 750 year anniversary celebration in 2002. Because we have a head temple my son and future generations are able to have a real Buddhist history lesson.

At Tozan you do not walk on the bath room floor barefooted and you are to put on some sandals. I assume that this is simply a part of Japanese culture like removing your shoes. My American sized feet could hardly fit into those little Japanes sized sandals. Many get offended when I explain that we have Japanese culture and Buddhism. We must learn how to separate Japanese culture from Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. Many call me racist because I bring up issues of culture. We in America do not remove our shoes when we come into a home, however in Japan this is done and this practise is only culture.

My showing a picture of This Japanese Toilet at our head temple bathroom may offend some but I am just being honest. In the men's bathroom there are two western style toilet in the temple that we were lodging at. On our way to the Temple I had to use the toilet at a rest stop and I had a problem.. I was not in too good of a physical shape for squatting and I was scared and quite embarrassed to use this style of toilet in Japan.. I experienced this style of facility in Africa but I was not expecting such a thing in Japan since Japan in many way has adopted a lot of western culture. There are those who will criticize this shot but this shot will give you an indept look at my visit to the Head Temple and going to Japan.

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