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Everyone always wanted Srila Prabhupada to come to their temple, especially if it was Janmashtami and Vyasa puja. We often didn’t know where Srila Prabhupada would go next, sometimes there wasn’t much warning. It was either by a letter or phone call to our Japanese temple that we found out the good news, there had been a change of plans and His Divine Grace would be coming to Japan, along with his newly initiated sannyasis!

Our “temple” was a very small house, as many Japanese houses are. Now we have some elaborate temples in Iskcon, but back then a temple was usually a house in which we put an altar with Deities or some framed pictures.

Last minute preparations were made. We got beautiful golden silk cloth with a golden thread pattern that Japanese women traditionally use as an obi (a sash that goes around the waist of a Kimono and ties in the back) to make a covering for the cushion on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana. We didn’t have altars or Vyasasanas from India, everything was made by hand and simple. We already had an altar with Lord Jagannatha Deities, Who now also had a simple but nice outfit. We also found an apartment to rent for the time Srila Prabhupada would be in Tokyo for him to stay in.

In 1969, Srila Prabhupada had sent Sudama, Bali Mardan and myself to open the first temple in Japan. At first we were in Kyoto and then Tokyo. We had no contacts there and we didn’t speak Japanese, but we had faith in Srila Prabhupada. He wanted a temple in Japan very much. By going on Hare Nama Sankirtana almost daily, and having the Sunday Love Feast, we now had some interested students coming, and a few older people. It had been over a year since I had last seen Srila Prabhupada and I was very excited to see him again. I was the only female devotee for all that time, so it was not always easy.

By this time Bali Mardan had gone to help open a temple in Australia. Now Bhurijana Prabhu was here for a while before he went to start a temple in Hong Kong. A couple of brahmacharis came for a while to help us, Amoga and Satyabrata. Amoga then went to help out in Australia. Bruce, an ethnic Japanese from Canada, was regularly coming, who is now Bhanu Swami and lives in India. We had a few steady Japanese people coming and a few people from other countries also, as Tokyo has a wide variety of people.

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