Media Event to Announce Iroha Nihon – Experience the Soul of Japan ProjectProgram to experience traditional culture while staying at a private temple and to preserve cultural properties

The Nippon Foundation held a media event on March 8, 2016, to introduce its Iroha Nihon – Experience the Soul of Japan project. The project aims to reacquaint people with the value of Japanese culture and foster an understanding of Japan and appreciation of cultural properties, through a variety of programs in which guests stay at temples that are normally closed to the public. A portion of the program fees will be used to preserve cultural properties, to help ensure that Japanese culture is preserved and passed on to future generations. The March 8 event consisted of a press conference at the Kyoto National Museum to introduce the project, followed by a tour of Daiji-in, one of the participating temples.

Mr. Sasakawa was followed by the Rev. Noriaki Kunitomo, head priest of the Zen Buddhist temple Yomei-in, who spoke on behalf of the temples involved. He noted that Kyoto is well known as a cultural center that attracts 56 million tourists annually, and the number of visitors from overseas is growing. Most of these tourists, however, only look at the various cultural sites without taking the time to experience and learn about them. He noted that this project would involve a three-step process of “experiencing, learning, and preserving cultural properties,” meaning that participants would learn about Zen culture by experiencing it first-hand, and that part of the fees would then be used to preserve cultural properties. The experience of staying and eating meals at a temple, and talking with the priests, would enable the participants to understand what Zen culture really means and help to dispel common misunderstandings, especially among non-Japanese people.

Next, Mizue Masukata of The Nippon Foundation’s Domestic Program Team explained the background and gave an overview of the project. World Values Survey data from 2015 show Japan as ranking 45th globally in “pride in nationality.” Also, while historical shrines and temples were cited as the top source of personal awareness of Japanese culture in people’s daily lives, less than one-third of Japan’s officially recognized cultural properties are on public display. In addition, the Japanese government’s budget for cultural properties is one-fifth that of France, and less than one-half of Britain’s, and local governments’ outlays for preserving cultural properties (excluding artistic works) have fallen by half over a recent 20-year period. With regard to tourists from overseas, a breakdown by country showed that visitors from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia expressed the highest interest in experiencing Japanese history, arts, and culture. This project will therefore be set up as a partnership among The Nippon Foundation, responsible for overall planning and providing initial funds for facility upgrades, the Kyoto Culture Association as coordinator, and the Hyatt Regency Kyoto, which will provide the actual services involved. The Nippon Foundation estimates that after the deduction of operating expenses, approximately 10% of the fees paid by participants will be left over and allocated toward the preservation of cultural properties. Through this structure, the project therefore aims to create three new models: for the use of historical buildings and structures, for support for the preservation and maintenance of cultural properties, and for the promotion of a renewed awareness of the value of Japanese culture.

Further logistical details were then presented by Takanori Aoyama of the Kyoto Culture Association. Mr. Aoyama stressed that the program would focus on providing a deep understanding of Japanese culture through dialog in small groups. Although details have yet to be finalized, participating temples are seen hosting no more than one or two groups of one to five persons for one night each per week. This will also make it possible to use temples that are not open to the general public and give exposure to these lesser-known temples. Mr. Aoyama gave a brief introduction of the five temples (Kaiho-ji, Koun-ji, Shinnyo-ji, Daiji-in, and Youmei-in) that have agreed to participate.
The first temple to host the program is Daiji-in, located on the grounds of Daitoku-ji and otherwise closed to the public. The program as planned at this time will have the guests depart from the Hyatt Regency after lunchtime, spend the afternoon, evening, and following morning at Daiji-in, and return to the Hyatt Regency late in the morning. While at Daiji-in they will have a tour and explanation of the temple’s history, experience zazen meditation, sutra chanting, a tea ceremony, and eat dinner and breakfast at the temple.

The press conference concluded with a question and answer session. Many of the questions concerned the fees to be paid by participants. Although not yet finalized, at this time the fee is expected to be 150,000 yen or more, including transportation to and from the temple and the Hyatt Regency, lodging, dinner and breakfast, activities and instruction, an interpreter during the time at the temple, and the portion to be donated toward the preservation of cultural properties. With the interpreter being a major portion of the cost, this is seen as a minimum fee regardless of the group size, and the cost per person could depend on the number of people in each group. Daiji-in is scheduled to be able to begin accepting reservations from May 2016, and the program will subsequently be rolled out to the other four participating temples in Kyoto. Participants will not be required to be guests of the Hyatt Regency, but for practical considerations it is envisioned that they will be staying at the hotel before and/or after the temple program. Further expansion beyond Kyoto is also a future possibility.