One of the blessings of retirement is travel. Oftentimes we hold back during our working years thinking, “I’ll just wait ‘til I retire--then my bags will be packed.” I recently traveled on a tour of Japan, an intriguing country long on our bucket list of international destinations. More on that in a moment. But suffice it to say that travel helps us learn, explore, and (hopefully) change our perspective. All of these are preconditions to release our creative juices, even as we age.
Japan: A Different Lens
Travel to Japan differs in many ways from touring in Europe, for example. While Japan is quite developed with excellent roads, public transport, and modern amenities, its history, language, and culture are remarkably different. As the western terminus of the Silk Road, Japan has ancient deep intercultural richness where indigenous Shintoism and imported Buddhism co-existed for many hundreds of years. To experience both together is to infuse a spirituality that venerates ancestral wisdom and legacy with a deep spiritualism in the present. Beneath modern Japan lies a foundation of religiosity very different from Western Christianity, which remains a small minority in the country.
Obon: A Festival of Ancestral Spirits
For example, our trip coincided with the Shinto festival of Obon, a merger of Shinto and Buddhist culture. Like a homecoming, families welcome the spirits of their ancestors for a five-day festival of spiritual reunion. In Kyoto, our guide took us to an open plaza at the old emperor’s palace where we joined hundreds of locals to celebrate the end of the festival. Five great bonfires are lit in the hills around the city, each forming one of their Chinese characters.
We stood in the rain with so many people huddled under umbrellas in the dying light of evening as one of the fires glowed and spread out into full blaze way beyond us. No one spoke. People stood quietly contemplating their departed loved ones continuing spiritual presence in their lives, sending the spirits back to heaven with their love and respect.
The Influence of Japanese Art on the West
A second transformative learning concerned the influence of Japanese art on European Impressionism. By chance we discovered a multimedia exhibition in Osaka featuring works of Japanese artists in the late 1800’s whose works took Paris by storm when Monet and the famous Impressionists were active. Many began incorporating images and themes from “Japonism” as it was called.
I had never known this connection before; in my long-ago art history studies, I cannot recall mention of the Eastern influence on Western art. Only now have I realized that our lens of viewing the world is dominated by our white western orientation. Travel experiences like these begin to reorient us to the broader intercultural connections of our vast world. https://mymodernmet.com/japanese-art-impressionism-japonisme/
A Lesson in Hospitality and Friendship 
A third discovery came as we visited the home of an older couple. They hosted a few of us and prepared tea to sweeten our conversation, challenging as it was due to the language differences. He, a retired businessman, and she, a homemaker, brought out some large sheets of rice paper and began to draw Japanese letters. They translated as peace, harmony, love, and community. These artful figures were a gesture of friendship and hope that we brought home as a memento of what we learned from Japan. Despite the devastating atomic attacks exactly 80 years ago, the Japanese spirit of friendship for the US remains strong.
Learning Through Experience
These gifts of travel are memories and new ideas. What did I learn? How to make sushi, rice paper, mochi, worship at shrines and temples. We learned about Sumo wrestling, drumming, and Zen Buddhism. We learned about war, peace and international friendship through the eyes of a 94-year-old survivor in Hiroshima.
These experiences deepen our perception of the world and, in turn, stimulate creativity—something that becomes even more crucial as we age. Expressing our beliefs, perceptions, and creativity helps integrate life experiences. As we discovered in Japan, the world is richer, and our part in it more fulfilling. Perhaps I will yet write that poem, paint that picture, or sing that song this trip has begun percolating in my heart—it’s about time.
Explore your creativity at the Tenth Annual Abundant Aging Symposium!
