A Traditional Japanese Wedding Ceremony at Meiji Jingu
On a mild February day in Tokyo, I set out to see the elaborate costumes and anime character look-a-likes that Harajuku has to offer. I wanted to verify what Gwen Stefani raved about in her song,...
View ArticleObservations on a Korean Buddhist Templestay
It’s 4:15 AM. I enter a building within the temple complex for morning chanting, carefully removing my shoes and leaving them at the foot of the entryway. The entire room is silent and illuminated with...
View ArticleUnfolding my fate in the Saju cafe
THIS WAS NOT MISS CLEO. There were no middle-aged females wearing robes, sitting in small curtained rooms and chanting with heavily mascara-ed eyes. No, the place did not smell of incense. It was an...
View ArticleHoly… Jesus boats!
It’s no surprise that Catholicism has seeped into Filipino culture since the beginning of Spanish colonization, but–I wasn’t quite expecting every mode of transportation– from taxis to tricycles to...
View ArticleRising before dawn in the mountains: a Buddhist templestay at Geumsansa
Geumsansa, one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in Korea, lies in the quiet, western foothills of Moak Mountain, located in North Jeolla province. “Moaksan, the so-called ‘Mother Mountain’, is...
View ArticleNotes from the covert world of Korean shamanism
CELINE CROSSED HER LEGS and took a long drag of her cigarette. “The shaman told me my grandmother’s hometown. She pointed to it on a map,” she recounted in her thick French accent. “Later, the adoption...
View ArticlePrayers and fortune telling at a Taoist temple
“Before we eat dinner at the night market, we’re going to pray,” Olivia’s mom said as we stopped in front of a Taoist temple in Taichung. My Taiwanese friend Olivia turned to me, “We’re only doing this...
View ArticleA peek inside a Buddhist sculpture studio
Over the past few years, I’ve attended an array of lantern parades and festivals throughout Asia, filled with skillfully-crafted floats and lanterns. I snapped the photo above at the Buddha’s birthday...
View ArticleMonks Hitchhike and Nuns Use WhatsApp
From the middle of the winding dirt road, we heard an engine roar in the distance. Bryan, the Canadian, and Sunnim, the Chinese monk from my Korean class, stopped in their tracks. “Was that the bus?”...
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