Grant

Meeting new people is half of why travel is important. Travel enriches your mind in ways that you can't even imagine until you've done it. It's the best way to build tolerance, because once you've met someone and been to their hometown, seen that they put their pants on the same way you do, it's difficult if not impossible to hate them. Nathan Fick, a discharged US Marine Officer, said that the best possible way to make sure that Marine Officers were following the will of the people was to send them to college. This would effectively educate them in the same environment that the future civilian leaders of America were educated, and give everyone in the government, military and civilian, common ground. As of this writing, more than fifty percent of all USMC officers are educated at a civilian institution, with the rest either being educated through a service academy, or commissioning without a degree.

I feel the same way about travel. The future of the United States is built on a global stage, where worldwide economic, military and social decisions are being made by individuals from all countries. We cannot live in isolation, as that is the death of our society.

All this comes to mind because of a conversation I had today. This afternoon I was walking around Ueno Park, a large recreational area in the northeast of Tokyo that houses the city zoo, national museum, and a few other art museums. I was checking out a large statue of a Japanese military leader whose name escapes me, and I discovered a smaller monument off to the side. As I approached, the strangely familiar face of General and President Ulysses S. Grant smiled beatifically at me and anyone else who approached.

After getting over my initial shock, I remembered that Grant had visited Tokyo in the late 1880s as a goodwill gesture. He had been greeted by the emperor himself at the Hama-rikyu Gardens: where I was yesterday. I had unwittingly retraced the steps of the eighteenth president. The memorial I stood in front of was a commemorative plaque put up thirty years after, in the early 1900s. The two trees behind the memorial were planted in honor of Grant and his wife, and stand there to this day.

As I took all of this in, a Japanese man in his mid fifties approached me and asked me if I was American, and I answered in the affirmative. At first hesitant, we began to converse about the importance of cultural exchanges, and how Grant's mission to Japan was a symbol of how two vastly different cultures could exchange ideas and learn to respect each other. I found myself easily agreeing with him, and from there our conversation progressed. For the next hour and a half we talked of everything from the weather to international politics, to how languages are put together and what exactly the difference is between ed and ing in English. He confessed that he had approached me hoping to brush up on his English language skills. I told him his knowledge of history and culture impressed me and he responded back that he was a history teacher for a local high school. This of course led to a discussion of Japanese history, and I learned some things I had never known about Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism. He told me that the reason Uneo park was located where it is is because when the city was founded there was a high concentration of temples put in place there. When I asked why that was he hunched down and started drawing in the dirt in front of the monument. Sketching an outline of ancient Edo, he showed me that Uneo was located to the Northeast of the imperial palace, the reason for this being that in Buddhism, evil spirits are said to blow in from that direction (Read: Washington DC). The temples are located there to attempt to block and redirect that evil energy.

He drew on the map some more and mentioned Zojoji Temple. After I excitedly told him that I'd been there yesterday he jumped up and shook my hand. Without knowing it I'd apparently completed some kind of good fortune ritual. Zojoji Temple is located to the southwest of the Imperial Palace, and evil spirits are also said to come from that direction. They are called "demon gates" or something similar, and by visiting both holy sites I'd apparently inured myself against bad luck.

Without a doubt, my passing meeting with this Japanese man whose name I don't even know has been the defining moment of my trip so far. His compassion, friendly nature and knowledge made me feel right at home, six thousand miles away from it. Later, after we had parted ways, I felt an immense sadness that neither of us had the presence of mind to exchange emails. Truly, our experience was of ships passing each other. I'm so glad it happened, and it will remain a bittersweet memory for the rest of my days.

-Doug