Bad Tourist

This picture was the beginning of our week long discussion about bad tourists. As a joke, I always say that Southern Europeans, especially Spaniards and Italians, take the cake. Seriously, Americans win by a mile.

This "structure" is a new twist on the tradition at shrines to write a peaceful and/or wishful message for friends and family members and tie it to a designated post. Many places have small basal wood-like plaques you can buy for 300-500 yen to write messages. This shrine decided to create a giant outdoor sculpture by having everyone glue their paper wish to a carved stone structure.

I couldn't help myself but to crawl inside. My parents snapped a few pictures when no one was looking. It was late, and it wasn't a very touristy part of town. I don't know the name of the shrine except the kanji from Takashimaya (no taka) is the main character.