Wake up at 6am this morning in order to attend two morning ceremonies at Eko-in: the morning prayer in the big temple at 6:30 and the fire ceremony in the small temple at 7:00. A monk came and knocked at our door at 6:25. Everybody who said to be interested by joining the ceremonies followed him in the long corridors of the temple. We reached the "big temple" at 6:30 sharp (everything is right on time in Japan !) were 2 monks were waiting for us. They started th...

We could not come to Japan and not experience the religious side of the country. Koya-san was thus the perfect destination to escape the city and retire (at least for one day!) in a buddhist temple to live with the monks on the top of a holly mountain. The route to Koya-san from Kyoto is pretty easy: first you catch a Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka (14 minutes), then connect with the subway (Midosuji Line) to Namba station (15 minutes), the second largest train stati...