On Entering Temples and Being a Tourist

Something that has really been bothering me on this trip has been the way we are able to simply pay a fee and then walk in to a sacred place like temples and shrines – temples and shrines that are still in use by patrons of each religion. In the United States, one couldn’t just walk in to a church while someone was praying and take pictures and discuss what was being seen. Most who were curious would go as a guest to a friend’s church, observe the service, and ask questions later. In Asia, although they don’t have regular ceremonies, people still use the temples and shrines regularly – and they just go about their business, disregarding the tourists wandering around. We did enter one temple – Temple #1 on the pilgrimage in Naruto – that had a service going on. And this did not stop us. We simply stood at the back and talked and wandered and were quite possibly extremely disruptive to the ritual or ceremony that the patrons were attending. It just seems so inconsiderate…but it also seems apparently normal to the culture.