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Arrival in Nihonbashi, Tokyo
A student from Rikkyo Primary school passes on the paper chain of wisdom to students from Nakano 7th Junior High School. 00.01.15/ Temperature: 4C/ Weather: Partly cloudy / Wind Direction: NE
Start: Ecopolis Center, Itabashi Ward 35 46 09 N 139 41 20 E
Destination: Nihonbashi, Tokyo 35 41 13 N 139 46 29 E
Distance Traveled: 12 kmOver the course of four months, through the change from fall to winter, and into the year 2000, step by step we made it to this year's destination, Nihonbashi, Tokyo. A journey traveled in 2 hours by plane and car was completed over the course of 4 months. Accompanied by WSN participant children for the last 7 kilometers to Nihonbashi and greeted by a welcoming ceremony of close to 50 adults and 100 children, part one of this journey came to an end with a sense that it is all of our journey.
Though Tokyo is relatively warmer than many of the places we have been on this journey, the city seemed cool to me as we walked along shaded below the highway. As I moved further south, the sun continued westward and buildings, growing taller, cast shadows over me. Leaving route 17 we meandered up the old Nakasen Road, a route with at least 600 years of history. It was a main path for Daimyos commuting to Tokyo and became an important route for trade. The dark wooden shingles of an old Tofu shop, a small takoyaki (breaded octopus balls) vendor, and the general liveliness along the road hinted of its past.
Students and adults alike have their attention focused on a presentation from Tokyo Kokusai High School at our goal Nihonbashi. As I progressed further toward our goal, students from Tokyo Kokusai High School, Nakano 7th Junior High School, Rikkyo Primary School, and Taito Elementary School students joined me for short intervals in the last leg to Nihonbashi. Having spent so much time walking alone on this journey, I was grateful to have the company of several of my partners in adventure. Not only did they share the last leg of this journey with me but each also contributed a small bit of wisdom as we walked.
Students from each group wrote down the wisdom they have discovered from their own studies on small strips of paper. Taping the paper strips together a 'chain of wisdom' was started and passed on to the next group as we continued toward our goal.
By the time we had reached Nihonbashi, there were close to forty comments about wisdom in our chain. Comments included: "People who live in the mountains don't collect all edible plants so there will be some for the following year," "Composting leftover food," "In looking for wisdom I found that increasing nature in areas which nature has been destroyed is good," "At any rate, recycling."
After the students' presentations we taped our long chain of wisdom into an endless 'circle of wisdom.' It is my hope that we can all take what we have learned to make these small bits of wisdom a part of our daily lives and can create wise living for the future.
Still searching
Greg
I'd like to extend a special thank you to all of the children, teachers, and volunteers of WSN that made this project possible as well as all those along the way who lent a helping hand.
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