Travel

Nanzoin Temple: Banned to Foreigners

January 25, 2020 /

Yes, you read that title correctly. The funny thing about it is that I had no flipping clue it was banned to foreigners until long after I had visited it but after learning about it, I now understand why some of the temple personnel looked so off (cold, uninviting, mean and judgmental). Fortunately, I encountered two staff members that weren’t like that but that’s just two out of their many staff members!

I will go into the nitty gritty of my experience with their staff members, but for the time being, let’s move on.

I wanted to visit Nanzoin Temple because I had heard it wasn’t as popular compared to the temple in Kamakura. Whether that’s true or not is a different story but the grounds weren’t busy when I visited. (It might be important to note that I arrived when they were almost closing.) Another perk is the fact that the temple is free and a gigantic reclining Buddha exists atop the temple.

I must have really wanted to see this temple or something because Nanzoin Temple was the first place I visited upon arriving to Fukuoka.

Now, the temple isn’t ridiculously visible from the JR station but one can figure it out easy enough after a while. If there are non Japanese speaking people present, they are more than likely there to see this temple. If you’re confused, follow them as they’ll lead you to the temple, unbeknownst to them.

I followed a small group of Koreans and was a tad bit worried but following them led me to the temple!

The beginning of the temple grounds was nice. But I didn’t bother to appreciate it much right away as my goal was to see the gigantic reclining Buddha before the temple closed up.

And that’s what I did except initially, I couldn’t quite figure out where to go to reach the reclining Buddha. My travel companion fortunately made an intelligent guess and while we both still pondered if we were heading towards the Buddha, with time, we realized that we were probably getting closer and closer to the reclining Buddha. Besides, we eventually received validation that we were indeed heading the right way upon seeing a small sign with a drawing of the reclining Buddha.

Getting to the reclining Buddha required some amount of hiking. Going up the stairs through shrines amongst plants and water was beautiful but tiring.

So tiring that I kept asking myself if we were there yet. Honestly, it’s not a difficult hike and not meant to be a tiring one either but when you’re pressed for time and did a lot early on in the day, it’s going to be tiring, alright.

Upon reaching the reclining Buddha, I didn’t notice him right away. I noticed smaller statues first and then when I finally saw the reclining Buddha, I was ecstatic that there were no more steps for me to climb.

I wanted to get super close to the Buddha but wasn’t sure if visitors were allowed to climb the stairs towards Buddha’s body. The closest I got was close actually; I had the opportunity to touch the soles of his feet and appreciate the intricate designs that were on his feet. This area is a bit small but people can pray here. There’s also a donation box or something nearby as well. (I couldn’t figure out if it was a box you throw a coin into in order to get your prayers heard or if it was a legit donation box.)

Near the “exit”, there’s a shop selling charms, books and other stuff. Because the temple’s admission was free, I felt it’d be great to give back in a small way by purchasing a charm/amulet. Besides, the charms were cute.

The lady working this shop was sweet although I probably threw her off when I couldn’t answer one of her questions. I know because she accidentally dropped my charm while trying to bag it when I was unable to answer. No can do when my Japanese skill was horrendous at that time and I honestly wasn’t in too much of a mood to inform that I’m from abroad.

I can assure she is sweet because an obvious foreigner (White girl) was there and she tried to communicate to her (in Japanese only, unfortunately) in a similar fashion as well.

If only more of the staff at this temple were like her.

Fortunately, I encountered another lady (a lot younger) who was pretty nice as well. The lady was manning the ice cream station.

For whatever reason, they sell ice cream across from the reclining Buddha and on a cold day, I just decided to give in to the guilty pleasure of eating green tea ice cream. My travel companion followed suit and got a mixture of vanilla in her green tea ice cream.

Although pretty good, I think we both regretted eating the ice creams simply because we started to feel funny inside shortly after. Not too sure if it’s the dairy or the type of ice/water that’s used to make the ice cream. We ended up being okay but just a reminder to be cautious when consuming anything “liquid” in a foreign country. I suppose in a first world country like Japan, you’ll be fine but honestly, you never know and should be mindful about what you’re about to eat if you don’t want to risk getting sick.

After coming down the stairs, we encountered small shops and an area that I am going to assume is for the deceased. I honestly don’t know because I ended up not going inside even though I wanted to. The woman manning the area just kept giving me bad looks for whatever reason. The nonstop bad vibes from her was so off putting that we decided it was best to not even bother going inside.

It’s people like this that I can’t stand and many of them exist not only at this temple, but throughout Japan. (Nikko, I am especially talking about you…)

The funny thing about it all is how a super young Japanese couple went inside and she seemed okay with them. The even funnier thing about it is how they were holding hands and stuff. Sure, that’s not major PDA or anything but I feel like it’d be better for my arse to be in there than this super young couple. But if it was a place with ashes, perhaps it was a good thing that we ended up not going in there.

If you think she was the only staff member that expressed obvious foulness or dislike, you’re of course wrong.

Somewhere, where there was a viewpoint of the temple grounds below, a male staff member was talking to a native about who knows what. It’s probably safe to say he wasn’t talking trash about me, but based on how he was looking at me, it was obvious that he wasn’t feeling me. While his vibe wasn’t as mean as the staff member manning the hall of ashes, he didn’t have much of a welcoming presence either.

On the grounds, around closing time, I got to see more not so nice staff. One was watching my every move like a hawk even though I didn’t do anything absurd. (I guess photography is considered an absurdity here. That or it screams that I am a flipping foreigner aka someone not exactly welcomed to their temple.) A part of me wants to brush it all off and make excuses by saying the staff on the grounds were like that because they just want to be sure that everyone leaves at closing time, but I know that’s not it.

Nanzoin Temple is a beautiful temple. And I really wanted to like the temple but just couldn’t find myself to like it. Reason: Nanzoin Temple is filled with way too many rotten staff.

A temple is a place of worship, peace and in Japan, respect, I suppose. I get that but a temple is also a place of forgiveness and acceptance. You cannot represent or be a part of Buddhism if you cannot practice the latter two and I think the bulk of staff here are lacking very much so in this arena. Sure, they’re only human, as am I but when a ban on foreigners (foreign group tours to be exact) is in place, it makes me question if there’s something deeper behind the ban.

Do the bulk of temple staff find foreigners annoying?

A nuisance to deal with even when “bad” behaviors are absent?

I’m aware that many foreigners can be rude, ill mannered and so forth, but the same can be said of native Japanese as well. The act of treating non-Japanese differently, whether it be through banning or simple stank eyes is rude and discriminatory.

Sure, a homogenous country like Japan may have difficulty grasping the concept of discrimination but it still doesn’t mean it’s okay to discriminate.

Overall, I’m glad I got to visit this temple. Glad to have been able to see the gigantic reclining Buddha. And glad to have at least encountered two staff members that were actually nice.

If you’re thinking of visiting this temple, don’t be surprised if you receive less than welcoming looks from temple staff members!

Links, should you need it:

Honestly, I do understand why it may be necessary to ban hoards of foreign group tours if it exhausts the temple’s resources and well being in any way but based on what I saw, the bulk of the temple’s staff are quick to judge a foreigner as bad. Not all foreigners are bad and it’d be nice if they could give each foreign visitor the benefit of the doubt instead of being on edge about every foreign visitor.

It’s nonsense like this that makes me itch to bring a local Fukuoka guy over just to kiss him in front of the reclining Buddha. Don’t know which guy would be down for this but I think it’d be epic to get a rise out of temple staff only for them to get dumbfounded when the guy explains in fluent Japanese that I’m just showing proof of my love for him in front of the Buddha. That’d be lit! (And it’d hopefully serve to teach them that people are people, Japanese or not.)

Of course, I wouldn’t do such a thing but it’s kind of tempting…