King’s students go globe-trotting
EAST met west when 10 King’s School students made the twelve hour flight across eight time zones to the Land of the Rising Sun for a once in a lifetime school trip.
Partnered by a sister school from New York, the trip gave the young men and women an insight into Japan’s cultural and religious history and how modern life has increasingly become detached from that unique heritage.
The trip crisscrossed the country from the industrial city Osaka, to the ancient religious centre of Kyoto to the modern metropolis of Tokyo and examined Japan’ unique belief systems that allow for many different gods.
The 10 day trip started in Osaka, an enormous, industrial city that has built itself up from the devastation of the Second World War now with some similarities to Manchester. After two nights they travelled to Kyoto, an ancient city filled with Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, where they learnt the ancient art of calligraphy.
A short drive then took the party to the famous Deer Park at Nara, home of the Todaji Buddhist temple, the largest wooden structure in the world. The final three days were spent in the sprawling, magnificent metropolis of Tokyo.
Here the students visited the Imperial Palace, the National Museum and, a highlight for the young technophiles the world famous electronics district of Akhihabara.
Robin Jackson, head of religion and philosophy at the school, said: “It was a fascinating experience.
“We thought a lot of differences (in religions) were to do with the feudal background, many districts were separated by feudal lords and so there was no central theology for hundreds of years, meaning lots of different religious systems evolved from district to district.
“They are also affected by the geography. The earthquakes and Tsunamis and the atomic bombings of the past have given rise to interesting cultural myths involving monsters like Godzilla who is often seen as neither good nor evil, merely a force of nature.”