Journey Through Japan

(soft gentle music) Welcome to Night Town. Along the main road, where people tend to slow their steps and glance into shop windows, you'll find a small free library set just off the sidewalk called The Leaf. It sits beside a few well-known storefronts, making it easy to find. Its glass door catches the light as people walk by. There's a blue crocheted bookmark dangling from the door handle like a subtle invitation and a shiny gold leaf gleams near the sign above it. As of today, the newest book in the library is titled "Travel Japan." Before we explore what's inside the book, let's begin with a brief wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. So, when you're ready, let's begin. So, take a moment to get comfortable. Letting go of the day. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. We're going to focus the attention of the mind on the different parts of the body, watching as the muscles in the body switch off for the night, leaving the body feeling rested and leaving the mind more at ease. So, starting down at the toes and feeling a sense of the muscles switching off. The feet, the arches, all those muscles switching off. Same in the lower half of the legs. Notice any tension being let go of as the muscles switch off, shut down. In the upper half of the legs, any tension melting away, being let go of. Into the area of the hips, the pelvis. Again, any muscles shutting down for the night. Completely at rest. Everything from the waist downward is heavy. At ease. The muscles in the lower back and the stomach are now switching off. Middle of the back, around the diaphragm, the upper back, the chest. So, any muscles not needed, shutting down, switching off for the night. The shoulders, switching off. The upper half of the arms and the lower half of the arms, switching off. The hands, fingers, just switching off. Any muscles around the throat and the neck, switching off. The head, the face, the jaw, the eyes. Any last areas of tension melting away as the muscles shut down, switch off. At rest for the night. And allowing thoughts to come and go, allowing the mind and body the space they need to rest. The book's cover doesn't sit perfectly flat anymore. It lifts slightly at one corner, a habit learned from being tucked into bags and set down on uneven tables. The title is printed in clean lettering that has thinned in places, the ink lighter where fingers have traced over it many times. The book opens to glossy pages that hold not just the printed text, but the quiet ink of a traveler's pen. The chapter reads, "Tokyo." Beside the heading, in small, looping cursive, someone has written, "Start early. The city wakes in stages." Morning arrives in Tokyo in increments. A convenience store door slides open with...