Beautiful Things

October 14, 2025

“It’s no wonder Japanese find it so easy to worship nature”

• Colleen Dobbs

If anyone else who reads this missive is as immature as I am, they are familiar with a video game called “Ghost of Tsushima”.  It is a popular Playstation game in which a wronged samurai warrior seeks his revenge against tyrannical foes.

As fun as the game is hacking and slashing your way to justice, there is a part of the game that elevates it beyond the usual fare.  The animators have created a landscape of Japan that is stunningly beautiful.  You take your character across landscapes that seem other worldly.   Nothing could be that pretty in real life.

I was wrong.

As mentioned in the last post we are in the foothills of the Japanese Alps.  Before returning to the train station for the return trip to Tokyo we decided to explore the local area around the shrines.

What we found was a stunning wooded landscape with spectacular waterfalls, moss covered, sun dappled paths among pines and maple trees, and the brilliant beginnings of the Fall color changes with the leaves.

Admittedly, the following is a photo dump.   I encourage you to fall into the images and marvel that they are real places. I assure you that despite the images taken, they in no way capture the  grandeur of what we saw.  They are beautiful things that belong to everybody and should be shared.

I remember years ago, when Colleen and I were starting to think about traveling, I asked my friend and medical partner Virgina about Japan.  She and her husband, due to his family and work, travel there frequently.

“So what is there to do there?”, I asked stupidly.  I really didn’t know.

As I recall she mentioned visits to areas of Nature were the highpoint for her.

“Oh”, I said.   Thinking to myself, “So, not so much”.

I was so stupid.  Virginia, you were right.