A Day in Asakusa

 Tokyo consists of several very distinct neighborhoods including Asakusa which is a baffling mixture of modern and traditional Tokyo.  As a history teacher, I thought it best to start with Tokyo's oldest (and most popular) Buddhist temple, Sensoji Temple.  Though the temple predated the Edo period that I teach, the surrounding community best represents the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Asakusa was once Edo's (Tokyo's) entertainment center. Yet the gaity of the temple's surroundings was startling to us Westerners.  Accustomed to solemn, private worship experiences, this festive atmosphere seemed most irreverent.  It felt inappropriate for photo shoots by foreigners but nonetheless, I took pictures of adherents washing, praying and buying their fortunes in the hopes of experiencing the blessings of peace and prosperity.

After prayers, the people flocked to purchase their fortunes for 100 yen ($1 US) by dropping a coin into a little wooden box and shaking it until a bamboo stick emerged with a number corresponding to a drawer.  The drawer contained the paper fortune.  For those who found the fortune disagreeable, they voided it by attaching it to wires nearby.  Thousands of little papers fluttered in the breeze

Prayers Negated

Bustling, noisy stalls line the narrow main thoroughfare leading to the temple.  Given the intensely cold weather, I was mostly interested in finding a warm hat.  Amongst the T-shirts, souvenir trinkets, candies, bags, and dishes, I found a warm headband to cover my ears.   The closely packed crowds of cough-ers and sneeze-ers, made me wish to cover my mouth as well!  Almost reading my thoughts, the nice, elderly check-out lady handed me two free packets of mouth masks.  I am not certain if they were to protect me from others or to protect others from me.  Trying not to offensively use tissues in public, my very red and runny nose broadcast a recent illness.