Tokyo is stuffed with gorgeous shrines and temples, but some of the gods in residence have hilarious and entertaining specialties! Here are the ones dedicated to my favorite kami-sama and how to snag some of their favor for yourself: • THE WART SHRINE Resident kami-sama’s superpower: Curing warts How to get your warts cured: Throw aContinue reading “The Eleven Strangest Shrines In Tokyo”
Tag Archives: entertaining shrines & temples
The Dish-Breaking Shrine
This spring, the ever-impish kami-sama apparently thought I was in need of some sort of life lesson. Because every time I set out with a well-planned, perfectly-timed plan, it was like this: “You know that amazing thing you traveled three hours on four trains to see? Well, forget it. You’re not going to see it. InsteadContinue reading “The Dish-Breaking Shrine”
St. Bondage
One painfully, BEASTLY hot day, I was scuttling along from shade puddle to shade puddle on my way back to Kanamachi Station, and I happened to glance through the gate of a random temple I was passing. Inside, I spotted this! This saint had to have some obscure specialty, like the Wart Curing Jizo or the Scrub Brush Shrine, andContinue reading “St. Bondage”
St. Nyancat Of Matchmaking
If you want to find the gf/bf of your dreams, this is the place to do it! The gods of the Imado Shrine in Asakusa are apparently better at forking over perfect mates than the yenta in Fiddler On The Roof. This shrine is also the birthplace of the maneki neko cats you see wavingContinue reading “St. Nyancat Of Matchmaking”
Tomb Of The Untold Stories
Here lie the funniest Japanese stories ever told. Or so they say, because when it was decided in 1941 that tales of wayward sons in the red light district, mistress mishaps and too much saké were inappropriately funny for wartime, the famous rakugo performers who buried them under this slab vowed the stories would never beContinue reading “Tomb Of The Untold Stories”
Only In Japan 