I attended a talk by a sister from Plum Village, the mindfulness community founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. Around 30 people gathered together, and we spent time meditating with the sister and listening to her violin performance.

The sister shared “five ways to express love”:

1. Words
2. Being together
3. Physical touch
4. Gifts
5. Acts of service

She said that acts of service can be something simple, like washing dishes.

Physical touch may be more difficult in Japanese culture.

The sister also mentioned the word “affinity” several times during the talk.

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I attended a DE&I training session at HERALBONY.

Despite it being a weekday, around 20 people participated.

I realized that I had been completely mistaken in thinking I understood everything up to now.

https://academy.heralbony.jp/

https://www.heralbony.jp/en

I watched the Chinese film Last Letter (2018, original title: Hello, Zhi Hua).
https://iwaifilm30th.com/archives/lineup/lastletter-c

The director, Shunji Iwai, also created a Japanese version of the same story titled Last Letter (2020).

We often find ourselves envying people who have things we don’t.
But in reality, they also carry their own worries and insecurities.

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I attended a gospel event at Yodobashi Church in Okubo, Tokyo.
(English) https://yodobashi-church.com/forign_language/english/

It seems that services are also held in English and Chinese at Yodobashi Church.
It had been a while since I last visited Okubo, but most of the people walking around the area were from overseas (it almost felt like there were no Japanese people… haha).

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I recently went to an art exhibition.

A businessman who had never painted before suddenly enrolled in a preparatory school for art college entrance exams just before turning 50.

One year later, he successfully got into an art university! Now he is a second-year student and is holding his own exhibition.

What an incredible journey!

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