It's 5:40 a.m. Dawn has yet to peek over the mountains, and the forest surrounding Shonenji temple in Takachiho-cho still waits for morning.
The priest's wife (the temple bomori) wakes their sons, prepares breakfast, packs homework, odds and ends. At 6:25 a.m., they pause to chant at the family altar. Her husband, Junsho, rings the temple bell. It's a typical morning in the life of a not so typical, fully ordained Buddhist priest and British national.
Victoria Yoshimura, 38, from Peterborough, England, started her life in Japan like many foreigners. Twenty-two years old, two weeks out of university, she came over on the JET language program. "My original idea was to learn a bit of Japanese, gain a bit of foreign experience, then return to England to get a job in PR or marketing," Yoshimura says. Instead, she soon found herself dating a colleague at Takachiho High School, where she was an assistant language teacher.