"Please come to the opening ceremony for the gate," said the Buddhist priest. I'd never seen a ceremony for a gate before, so my first thought was, "What should I wear?" My second thought was, "I won't even be here for it, so I could probably go naked and no one would notice." I thanked the priest for the invitation, although I knew I had to be on the mainland that day. To attend, I would have to travel 1 1/2 hours home for the ceremony, then 1 1/2 hours back to the mainland, just for a gate.

But this was no ordinary gate. It was not a driveway gate or a sidewalk gate or even a tollgate. This gate, in fact, doesn't even close, so there is no key or lock. It's a permanently open gate, like an invisible door where you can see through to what's on the other side, but you have to pass through the gate to get there.

This gate is the new Buddhist gate built on our island. Many temples in Japan have gates, but Kairyuji Temple didn't have one until recently. They started building the gate last year and it has been finished for a couple of months now, but no one was allowed to walk through it. Not until it had been given a proper opening ceremony. You've got to respect gates or else they might not let you in. Or out.