MUMBAI: Zen no more. It’s Jain.Wrapped in white loin cloth, they chant the navkar mantra, follow dietary self-abnegation, wake up with the sun, consume only warm water, meditate for hours in derasars (Jain temple) and dine before the sunsets. Thousands of Japanese are turning to Jainism. Apart from living like astute Jains, their calendars are marked for an annual pilgrimage to India where they spend weeks studying Jain script under learned monks.The charming Naganoken town, home to the seventh century Zenko-ji temple with a hidden Buddha, sees hundreds of Japanese nationals travel to Palitana and Shankheswar to embrace Jainism every year. Churushi Miyazawa came as a traveller in 2005 and her first meeting with Gachadhipati Swargiya Jayantsen Suriswarji Maharaj Saheb, a senior monk, charmed her into the religion. Such was the appeal that she decided to shed her past, lead a minimalistic life, give up the comforts she earlier soaked in and vow to live like a Jain.Thus was born Tulsi. Churushi wanted to take deeksha (renunciation) and would brook no opposition. “My guru entrusted me with a bigger task: To spread Jainism across Japan. Every month, since then I have been travelling to India four to five times a year with hundreds of Japanese who are ready to embrace Jainism,” Tulsi told TOI from Japan. After Naganoken, the popularity of Jainism is spreading in Osaka and Tokyo too.Not only have thousands of Japanese turned to Jainism, many are readying themselves to take up monkhood. Under conventional practice, initiation into monkhood comes after immense training. The initiates live with monks in temples and the preparatory phase can last anywhere between six months and 10 years, says Babulal Jain-Ujwal, a veritable fount of information on Jainism.Just a month ago, 2,500 Japanese travelled to Tharad in northern Gujarat and spent a week there with the disciples of Jayant Sensuriswarji Maharaj Saheb. “There are a number of Japanese coming here in large numbers. They follow all our rules, pray with us, eat Satvik food before the sun sets, mediate and go back home to follow the same lifestyle we induct them into,” says Nityasen Suriswarji Maharaj Saheb.Next week, too, if travel restrictions are relaxed, another group of Japanese nationals is travelling to Gujarat. To understand the intricacies of the religious texts, most of them are also taking Hindi tutorials, says Jain-Ujwal. “A new temple is being planned in Japan and now we are told there are more than 5,000 families are newly inducted into Jainism,” he adds.The Japanese follow the eight-day holy festival of Paryushan too. “There they fast for eight days (atthai) by merely consuming warm water. Even children follow Paryushan and keep fasts for a day or two,” says Tusi . “The appeal of ahimsa or non violence propounded by Jainism has found a connect with all of us.”