Tacky Temple

Earlier in the day, I went to a Buddhist temple in Asakusa. Unlike the temples I visited in Hong Kong, this one was tacky and overcrowded. Imagine five hundred yards of carnival shops leading to the entrance of the temple. In Hong Kong, temples rarely had more than a handful of people when I visited.

Regardless, the paintings on the ceiling were excellent. To the right is a nice example. Below these paintings, people said a few prayers and threw money at the shrine. This was a surprisingly loud affair for Tokyo.

I spotted a handful of Europeans/Americans but they were tens among ten of thousands of Japanese. I had my photograph taken by a few Japanese tourists. It was nice to see Japanese families -- rarely larger than four -- out for the day. Everywhere I go in southwest Tokyo, neighborhoods are filled with fashionable, single, beautiful people. One day they may marry, although this generation is working hard to delay, not unlike New York City and San Francisco.