Jason | Shogan Kameda

One day, Captain Tie handed me a handwritten piece of paper with the detailed address written on it: Kameta Shoen, 48 Weiming Temple, Shizino Monzen-cho, Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan, Tel: ×××…

There is also a voice:

"Today I found Xiang Yan's contact information, because he left a small notebook with me. Yes, I haven't seen him for more than ten years. He used to like cycling. His father was a hereditary monk in a Japanese temple. He was in Dali at that time. He was quite hippie and stayed with us there. We had a brief contact for a while. Yes, he liked riding a bicycle in Southeast Asia. At that time, he was always riding a bicycle to escape from his family. He also lived in Dali for a long time.

I don't know if you two can meet, so I'll send this to you. If you pass by his temple, you can go and ask. I don't know if he has returned to his home to become a monk or what. "

I don't know Xiang Yan, and I may have never seen him, but I vaguely remember this story. "A young Japanese man lived in Dali for a while. His family owned a temple, and his father wanted him to go back to inherit it, but he didn't want to go back."

More than 10 years ago, many people came to the ancient city of Dali from all over the world. Xiangyan was one of them. Maybe there are still many people coming now, but Dali at that time was a little small. People lived there for a while, and even just appeared, they were known: limited outsiders, limited youth hostels, and limited shops. People did not widely use WeChat and mobile phones yet, and most of the time socializing was through face-to-face chatting and playing together. The scope of daily life was probably a few streets, and it was easy to bump into each other.

Most of these foreigners left later. On the one hand, Dali became a popular tourist destination, becoming more expensive, commercial, and turbulent. On the other hand, visa policies were tightened for a while, and it was not easy to return after the travel visa expired. A few people stayed by marriage or other complicated methods, but after all, most people could not find similar methods.

Another reason why I remember living in Xiangyan is that from this story I heard by chance, I learned for the first time that some temples in Japan are family businesses. The owners can get married and the property can be inherited. This is very different from temples in China.

This is only a very superficial connection, and I don't know if it's appropriate for me to visit him, so I'll just leave it for now.

Last Saturday, I didn't want to stay in the dormitory all day, so I rode my bike to the Kamogawa River in the afternoon and followed the stream into the mountains. I started walking back in the evening, and when I got back to downtown Kyoto, I suddenly remembered that the Komyoji Temple was not far from here, so I looked at the map and found that it was about three kilometers away.

Soon we arrived and saw the temple I had heard about ten years ago. It was on a quiet street with few cars passing by. From the outside, the temple was not big, a traditional building with a closed gate. When I walked to the side to take a look, I saw someone coming out of the side door next to the gate, a family, and a child. I didn't know whether I should go up to ask, so I watched them slowly walk to the corner of the street and turn around. Then I went home.

A few days later, after school, I didn't want to go home right away, so I rode my bike around the school. Suddenly I wanted to go to Weiming Temple again, which was not far away, so I rode there.

When I arrived, the door was still closed. I thought about why I wanted to meet this person who was so far away and had little connection with me in the past. I think I probably wanted to know how this young man who left Japan more than ten years ago to travel around the world by bike and didn't want to go home to live his daily life is doing now. Often, some ideas and enthusiasm when you are young may have very different results after time.

With this in mind, I walked to the small door next to me. There was a doorbell next to it, so I pressed it. Soon, someone spoke inside. From the tone of voice, it sounded like "Looking for someone", but I didn't hear it clearly. I asked in Japanese, "Is Xiangyan here?" The door opened, and it was an old lady. She looked at me and was a little confused. I then said, "I'm from China. I was Xiangyan's friend ten years ago. He was traveling in China at that time." The old lady understood now, and said to me, "Xiangyan doesn't live here." She pointed to the left and said, "Turn there, and then turn again. He lives in the house inside."

I didn't know if it was easy to find, so I was just about to go and take a look. The old lady called an old gentleman, who was thin and said "Shogan's father". The old gentleman muttered something to the old lady, and I guess it was because she spoke English and felt that she was teasing him. I explained the situation again, and the old gentleman motioned him to take me there.

We walked towards Xiangyan's residence together, and the old man said, "Xiangyan may be playing guitar at his residence, but I don't know if he is there, sometimes he goes to America." I forgot what else he said, partly in English and some in Japanese, his English is OK, he can express himself well.

We turned into a small path behind the temple, with small traditional houses and scattered plants on both sides. We walked along the path and arrived at one of the small houses. This low house, which was very Japanese, had a very small yard with plants growing everywhere. Xiangyan's father leaned over to take a look and called out, but there was no response. He said, "But the bicycle is there, maybe it went to America." Seeing that I didn't understand, he said "musical instrument shop".

I said, "It's okay, I was just passing by here and we didn't contact each other in advance. Sorry to bother you. I'll go back and add him on WeChat and make an appointment with him." My ability to express myself is limited and I speak Japanese mixed with English.

On the way back, I asked Xiangyan's father, "Is Xiangyan married now?" "No, he's not married yet." His father is a very gentle man, he doesn't talk much, but he expresses himself clearly and neatly. After saying goodbye to his father, I thought since I was here, I searched for musical instrument stores on Google, and sure enough, there was an "America Music Instrument Store" nearby. I rode there quickly, but there were no customers in the store, so I guessed he probably didn't go there. I sent a WeChat friend request according to the information on the contact card. Then I rode back.

In the evening, Xiangyan called me on WeChat. I told him the general situation and told him that I had gone to Weiming Temple.

He said, "Really!? The door should not be open, right?" "I met your father"

"Sorry, I usually spend the whole afternoon playing the piano by the Kamogawa River."

"Well, it's okay, it's my fault. I was nearby so I was an uninvited guest."

"I miss Cangshan in Dali. It's my hometown. Wow! It's a miracle that my friends in Dali come to my place. It's a rare opportunity."

"Well, I heard from the captain that I also want to meet you."

"I miss Dali so much. A friend told me that the ancient city of Dali has also changed. Is Shuanglangcai Village also changed?"

"With the high level of commercialization, everyone lives in villages farther away"

“Oh...it’s still commercialized...I think the Dali Ancient Town I knew is gone😅, I don’t know much about the Dali Ancient Town at night. When I was in Dali, I got up early every day to climb Cangshan Mountain, ate something after going down the mountain, and did yoga. In the evening, I would perform or set up stalls on Renmin Road.”

Although I didn't see Xiangyan this time, it seemed like I had already seen him. I even understood him more than ten years ago. Past experiences, current life, and future possibilities all seemed to be intertwined. Time is quite magical.