Memoir of Good Old Days: Meeting Tourists at a Temple in Tokyo—and What Happened Afterwards
Please forgive this old person for indulging in a little reminiscence. Long ago, when I was young, I joined a travel company in Tokyo, near a famous temple. The temple had several tombstones belonging to famous samurai from the 18th century. As new employees, we were told by our senior colleagues that the tombstones were well known, even among tourists from abroad. They told us the story of the samurai, and out of curiosity, we paid a visit to the tombstones to recall those very old days when samurai were still part of Japan's history. The temple became our sanctuary during our lunch breaks. With the office almost refrigerated by air conditioning from early summer onwards, we escaped from the office and had lunch under a large tree in the temple grounds. The shade was wonderfully comfortable, and with the occasional breeze, we thawed ourselves out after being frozen in the office and enjoyed a leisurely lunch there. The temple was, indeed, a popular place for visitors from ...