Our Lady Of Akita

Highlight of our pilgrimage to Japan! Nice and quiet place to pray before the blessed sacrament and/or in the presence of the famous miraculous statue of Our Lady of Akita. The sisters were very gracious and accommodated our large group. Beautiful garden and outdoor Stations of the Cross. A definite MUST SEE if you are Catholic and visiting Japan. It's worth the travel?!

Best place in the world!

26 Oct 2018 Friday. Arrived Akita 8:00 pm after a long long train ride last night all the way from Sapporo including 3 train transfers. Proceeded to Our Lady of Akita (Seitai Hoshikai). The trip started with a bus ride from Akita Station, followed by an uphill hike of maybe 30 minutes in the midst of a forest-like trail that had earthen dead leaves on it. And finally reaching the destination, a huge nicely architectured chapel welcomed us. An English-speaking lady met welcomed us, instructed us to remove our shoes and use slippers provided and reminded us to refrain from taking any pictures inside. The main chapel had the usual set up - altar table, candles, tabernacle and so on. The structure was mostly wood with its natural grains standing out proudly enhancing the beauty of the chapel. The wooden floor slabs complemented the symphony of grains. So did the pews. The small statue of Our Lady of Akita stood at the end of the left side of the chapel with rows and rows of chairs for pilgrims to pray. And there in front of Our Lady we wrote down all intentions of all Stjohnners on a piece of paper, dropped it in the prayer petition box beside her image and prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary. We lingered on to absorb the prayerful reverence and silence of the place that sort of entered the interiority of our inmost self where peace reigned. The cool weather, the quiet surrounding, added to the sacredness of Akita. We passed by the souvenir shop to pickup a few souvenirs followed by photo shoots in the Garden of Mary. And finally trekked down the hill for our bus back to the train station. Day is done. Thank you for entrusting us with all your prayer intentions - louie, charlie's mom, robert's pains, tony's medical concerns, ben's need for guidance & wisdom, mike's concerns, perry & op's health conditions, joey and connie's well-being, rose lee in coma of many years, zheny balatbat and all spoken & unspoken brokenness of us all including our families. Akita will always welcome all who come . . . especially those who come to pray. Welcome to Akita !

Amsterdam to Fatima to Akita

A beautiful place!