Monshu (abbot) Choken Otani, head priest of the Jodo Shinshu tradition’s Otani denomination Higashi Honganji in Kyoto, visited local resident Makiko Doi with his wife last month after his attendance at a Buddhist conference in Los Angeles. Otani, a cousin of the present Emperor Akihito, renewed his acquaintance with Doi, whose uncle (and, later, adopted father) was his beloved teacher in the field of plant genetics at Kyoto University many years ago.
