Note: I wrote this blog post over the course of the second half of 2024 from June all the way to November where it amassed 155 pages in a Google document. This blog is being released in 8 different parts where each read has lots of content but is digestible without reader burnout: Pre-trip, May 17-19, May 20-21, May 22-23, May 24-25, May 26-27, May 28-29, May 30-31
Here is the link to view the all parts (released/unreleased)
May 24 Friday
This would be the earliest start of our trip where we would check out of the hotel and depart at 7 am for Ise Jingu Naiku. When we got to Naiku, it was strange that there were no tourists there yet but then we knew why when we were greeted by a special guest, Marie Kondo herself! Marie and her husband Takumi been at the shrine earlier in the morning and wanted to surprise the group and thank us for traveling all the way to be a part of this special experience.
Marie and Takumi said their parting ways and we got to explore the grounds where there was a nice river area to explore and be mindful. To be honest I was not good at paying attention to our tour guide during Ise who was a different person than Aki.
After seeing the main shrine (no photos were allowed) we got to see a Kagura Offering demonstration. Kagura was a dance to entertain the Gods featuring shrine maidens (Marie was once a shrine maiden). The performers and musicians were all dressed in colorful outfits and you could sense the dedication to the craft as it unfolded on stage. Sorry no photos or videos of this either. :(
After we exited the shrine we got to ride rickshaws down a road that went parallel with the Isuzu river to participate in a Goma ceremony. The purpose of a Goma ceremony was to destroy negative energy by burning items; in our ceremony we burned rice. The ceremony was led by one of the head priests of the Ise Shrines. We would get to scoop some dry rice and throw it into the burning pot where the priest would perform the ritual with each of us.
By time the ceremony was done it was around lunch time but at that point it seemed like we had been going all day already. This was probably the first real “free time” to explore we got all trip. Our goal was to find more meat sticks and beer in the surrounding town. Mission accomplished. A special note was there is a form of Udon called Ise Udon that is thicker than normal udon that is only available in this region that we got to try - It reminded me of the noodles in a thick chicken noodle soup.
Other stops along the way included coffee, fried oysters, and more beer. By the time I hopped on the bus, I was definitely not sober. The bus would drop us off at the train station where we would ride a local train to connect to a bullet train in order to get to Tokyo. From my recollection this trip was a few hours long and passed Mt Fuji. Our dinner was a bento box that was over the top. Even to-go food in Japan is well prepared.
After arriving at Tokyo station and transferring to a bus to the Hotel New Otani Tokyo The Main, we would part ways with Aki, the most wonderful tour guide.
The night was not over yet after checking into the hotel. Maaike, Hiroko, and Kelly went on an adventure to Shibuya crossing as there was a bar Mag’s Park Rooftop Bar Shibuya Crossing that overlooked the crossing! Shibuya scramble crossing is one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the world where up to 3000 people could be crossing at once. We took the train station close to our hotel that dropped us off right at Shibuya and the location we were going to was upstairs near the train station exit.
After viewing the crossing the final stop of the evening was to visit a Japanese arcade High-Tech Land Sega Shibuya near by where we played a Taiko drum game, DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), Initial D racing, and some Mario Kart! The Mario Kart video game was a precursor of what was ahead of me in the next week.
I don’t know how we lasted this long on Friday until around 11 pm after our 7 am start but we needed to seize every opportunity that we could have.
May 25 Saturday
Saturday would be the first day of the weekend seminar - All the polo shirts and real pants and nice sneakers I packed were for this day and the next. The morning started with a breakfast buffet on the top floor of the Hotel New Otani Tower Restaurant that overlooked Tokyo. This photo below was from a different day but you get the idea.
We all met in the lobby of the hotel and took taxi’s over to the event venue called BENE I’m not sure that anyone actually paid attention to where the venue was but it ended up being near Omotesando, another retreat friend Emi would point out later on. When we got to the venue, it had a very open and airy feeling to it similar to what the photos on Google show.
To start the morning Marie gave a speech to welcome everyone and thank them for being there. What surprised me the most was Marie did the entire speech in English! I really appreciated the effort that she put into it and it helped all of us feel more connected to her. For many of the past events she utilized a translator which still got the primary points across but there was always a delay in the reception of her words. In Japanese culture, many times people are afraid to make mistakes when speaking other languages so it just showed her bravery and dedication to us!
I’m going to skip over some of the seminar topics that I shouldn’t unleash out there but the next topic was that we got to learn about KonMari Japan (KMJ). KonMari as a brand has the Japan division and then international which includes the US and the rest of the world. We got to learn what they do differently and what similarities we shared as a program and operation.
After the catered lunch at the venue, we broke up into separate tables where KMJ Consultants would get to sit at our tables and we’d get to introduce ourselves to each other. Even though language could have been a barrier, many of them understood enough English to communicate effectively with us! I got to sit next to Yoko who was one of the kindest people I had the pleasure of being around. The entire group did a round of introductions of where we are from and a fun fact about us. I paid attention to the people who liked beer :) and this would pay off later.
Our next workshop activity was on Kurashi – Marie has a book called “Kurashi at Home”. Kurashi means “Way of Life” and during this activity we mapped out our entire day of how we intended on living from morning, afternoon, to evening. For me most of my day was already ideal but I did want to incorporate morning walks around 6:30 am every morning. I jotted this down as one of the active changes I would incorporate. The compromise for me would be one less hour of sleep. As I’m typing this I’ve been walking every morning for almost 40 days straight after returning from Japan. It’s all about making conscious choices and being intentional about them. Some days I wake up more tired than others but once my feet get going and I’m out the door, it's a very powerful moment for me to be in tune with myself and the surrounding world.
If you want to know how my normal weekday day is broken up in my current life this a rough Kurashi design:
6:30 AM - Wake up and morning walk for 1 - 3 miles with no headphones
7:30 AM - Sit down and enjoy a cup of home roasted coffee. I’m a home coffee roaster but that is another story
8:00 AM - Shower and get ready for the day
8:30 AM - Hop on my computer at home to start work at Google to work on products that help other people
10:30 AM - Drive into the office and continue to work
12:00 PM - Lunch, Frozen Yogurt machine :)
12:30 PM - Continue Work
3:00 PM - 15 min Pourover coffee or nap break based on how I’m feeling. We need to listen to our bodies and give it what it needs!
6:30 PM - Leave the office to drive to Dance. Dance is an activity that has been therapeutic for my mental well being the past few months. The community that I am a part of is one of the most friendly and welcoming places especially for a new dancer like me.
7:00 PM - Dance Class 1
8:30 PM - Dance Class 2
10:00 PM - Drive Home and reflect on the day and appreciate everything that happened - good, bad, or neutral
10:30 PM - Snack/Dinner - Possibly a TV episode during this time
11:00 PM - Wind down / Misc preparation for the next day
12:00 AM - Asleep around this time
On weekends I have organizing clients and other social activities so the schedule may vary but I still wake up at 6:30 AM for the morning walk!
After the Kurashi workshop, we did a calligraphy workshop where we got to practice multiple words with assistance from Yoko counterparts. I found it interesting that inthe first practice rounds, I tried to replicate the example exactly but then the demonstrator said to stroke the brush with emotion. My final product came out more aggressive than what you see below. Marie did this session with us and when she saw my work her comment was “Powerful” haha!
After the workshop we all go to take 1-1 photos with Marie and get signed Kurashi at Home books which you’ve seen already at the top of this blog post. Here are photos of me with Melissa and Takumi.
After photo time, the entire group took taxi’s over to Meiji Kinenkan for cocktail hour style dinner and drinks. This was a great bonding time where we were able to informally connect with KMJ Consultants and staff members. Importantly, I found the beer lovers Kujira, Yun, Rachel and we would meet up with them later on in the evening for beer time with some of the other adventurous Consultants at Craft Beer Server Land.
After we left the bar, there was some casual street roaming eventually leading us back to the hotel on foot. Roaming around on foot really lets you get to see the neighborhood in its true form without any destination in mind. This is one of the activities I have been practicing much more in recent months.
