No Longer an Earthquake Virgin
Today I felt my first earthquake here in Tokyo. I live right beside the train line, so I'm used to trains passing by on a regular basis. BUT, when my bed started to gently shake (with me in it) for about 5 seconds, I knew that was no train. It was actually kind of cool!
Asakusa
A few other teachers and I went to visit an area of Tokyo yesterday called Asakusa. This area is very famous for having a large Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century, called Sensoji. There is a very long street called Nakamise which leads up to the temple, that is filled with little food stalls and souvenir shops...where people used to buy all their pre-temple things back in the ancient times as well. Interestingly, the surrounding area has been all rebuilt due to the air raids of World War 2, when the area was a bustling entertainment area.
There are a lot of things to see in Tokyo, but even more so in this little area. If you like shopping for trinkets and snacks, this is the place to be...although it is a little bit more expensive due to it being a tourist area.
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| Nakamise - Shopping area |
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| Nakamise Lanterns |
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| Japanese Wood Carver |
Good Fortune...Bad Fortune
Once you enter the temple area, you'll be in awe of the beautiful grandeur of the still existing architecture. Gigantic, red lanterns can be found in front of main gates and doorways.
In order to get a fortune, you should cleanse yourself by bathing in some smoke, and then moving over to where the fortune sticks are. These sticks are inside of a metal tin, with a small hole just big enough for one stick to exit. After shaking and rolling the tin, you randomly select a wooden stick that comes out, with characters that correspond to those in drawers.
I received a "Regular Fortune", which isn't too shabby at all. A lucky coworker of mine received one that read "The Best Fortune". Yet another coworker of mine received one that read "Bad Fortune". He was not pleased.
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| Bathing in Smoke Before Entering Temple |
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| My "Regular Fortune" Complete with Impeccable English Translation |
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| Beautiful Sensoji Temple and Pagoda |
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| Beautiful Underside of Giant Lantern |
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| Sensoji Temple |
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| Hozo Gate and Sonsoji Pagoda |
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| Throwing in Coins for Good Luck |
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| Sensoji Pagoda |
Octopus on a Stick? Yes please!
I haven't posted anything about food lately, which I should do more often. To quench your hunger for my hunger for exotic Japanese foods, I present to you these sticks of baby octopi. Grilled up and smothered in a sweet sauce...these things were tentacle-licking-good. Yummmmm...
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| Scrumptious stick foods |
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| Baby Octopi on a Stick |
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| Tentacle Lickin' Good! |
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