From Tokyo Lights to Temple Heights | Charterhouse School

So it was that, at the start of Exeat (half term), 25 Carthusians embarked on the first school trip to Japan in recent memory. The aim: to immerse pupils in the culture, philosophy, and religious ideas of the land of the rising sun.

This Theology, Philosophy & Ethics department expedition headed off to Tokyo for the long flight across the world. Landing early in the morning, the group set off quickly, beginning a busy couple of days in the capital.

We took in the sanctity of the Senso-ji temple and the woodland Meiji shrine, to secular Tokyo and its dizzyingly busy Shibuya scramble crossing, as well as the Ginza shopping district. Thus, we saw the complex interaction between Buddhism, Shinto, and commercial life in the most populous city in the world.

The last night in Tokyo saw a special visit to TeamLab Planets – a cutting-edge immersive art exhibition which merges philosophy, aesthetics, extraordinary digital projections, and even actual rivers of water to wade through.

From the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, these lucky Carthusians boarded the bullet train to Kyoto, the historic capital of Japan. Here, pupils were hit with a barrage of temples and shrines of exceptional beauty, including Kiyomizu-dera, from whose famous fountain Carthusians drank to ensure success in love, life, and (helpfully) studies.

An afternoon traditional Zen tea ceremony brought things back to a mindful pace, as we whisked matcha and took in our beautiful surroundings in a tatami-matted tea room.

The next few days were packed with wonders including the immense Todai-ji temple and its Great Buddha at Nara Park (populated by a fairly insistent local deer population). Some Carthusians even crawled through a narrow gap in a huge wooden pillar in the hopes of latterly achieving enlightenment – as the legend goes.

Our time in Kyoto saw us gaze upwards at the bamboo forest in Arashiyama, meditate at the Zen temple of Ryoan-ji, and finally climb up to the top of Mt Inari, passing under its 10,000 torii gates in the process.

From here, the final leg of the trip took us to Hiroshima, a city with a unique place in world history. But we began by going to the sacred island of Miyajima (Island of Shrines) and its famous ‘floating’ torii gate, as well as the best place in Japan for momiji (a delicious small cake).

The highlight here was the stunning view across the Pacific bay of Hiroshima afforded by the Mt Misen ropeway, from which you could see not only the entirety of the city but out to distant islands.

We quickly came to remind ourselves of Hiroshima’s more recent history as Mr McCombes expertly introduced us to the horrors of the atomic bomb at its hypocentre near to the famous ‘Atomic Bomb Dome’. Following a time of sober reflection, we headed to try the finest local okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, with delicious pancakes of cabbage, seafood, pork, and all manner of things prepared on a teppan right in front of us.

Our final morning gave pupils a remarkable opportunity to meet a survivor of the atomic bomb at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Mr Tseiji Suji opened our eyes to what it was like both for him and those he knew to live during and after the events of August 1945.

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