Day 2- Japan- Akehabara and Sensoji Temple

We started the morning off with our breakfast recommendation from the hostel staff- Japanese Denny's. They said it was the better choice for a slightly more expensive Japanese breakfast.

The menu was, in fact, way more fancy than it is in America and included traditional Japanese breakfasts. The tables even had a doorbell to call your waitress which we thought was very cool.

We then walked through the Sensoji temple on our way to the station- only to discover that there was a festival happening (although we had had some idea there might be one). I tried every spiritual ritual that I could, each for 100 yen.

First, we drew fortunes. To do this you shake a metal container with a little hole and flip it upside down. A stick falls through the hole with a number written on it and you go to the corresponding drawer. Unfortunately, my drawer had one of the rare very bad luck fortunes.

I was told by a helpful passerby to tie my fortune on to one of the racks outside. Maybe that'll help turn my luck around!

I then made a wish by tossing a coin through the wooden floor slots. Everyone crowns around this area with wooden slots, chucking coins from a distance and praying.

Next I drank water from one of the dragon fountains. We figured out that we had to pour some into out hand to drink and then wash our hands with it.

For one final ritual, I bought a pack of incense and lit it from these metal furnaces.

You hold the incense while facing the temple and pray.

After you our done, you place the burning incense on this cool alter, borrowed in the ash. We first noticed the incense because we had seen all the people crowding the alter to waft the incense onto their clothes.

Just walking around the shrine grounds was amazing. I finally got to see the Thunder Gate and its demon statues during he daylight. They were sufficiently terrifying! The path is lined with hundreds of stalls selling cool souvenirs. It was incredibly busy.

After we were done with that we headed to Akehabara, the neighborhood at the center of anime and manga. This was a really cool cultural thing to do and I got some interesting nick-nacks.

We walked into a Pachinko parlor which was ridiculously loud with the sound of all the slots being drawn at once. The place was massive, with rows and rows of these machines and not a single girl!

We also tried out these oculus virtual realty googles which work ridiculously well! It was crazy disorienting.

Jordan and the Oculus

We also walked into the anime center and saw this giant event of thousands of people playing an anime card game, which was probably very fun for them. I managed to snag a pic before being told that pictures weren't allowed.

After that we headed down to check out the situation at the Kabuki theater (we decided to go tomorrow since Monday will be less crowded) and ended up at Tsukiji, the fish market. Of course, it was late afternoon (our original plan of going at 2:45 am last night did not work out). I still saw a giant fish head and my friends, apparently, had some very good fish at the restaurant we went to.

Tsukiji Fish Market

We then went back to the shrine to pick up some souvenirs and watch the gold lion dance. I only caught the tail end (punny) of the dragon dance, but it was very cool. There was also a moving palanquin of musicians, although I only have a few pics.

For dinner, we headed down to Roppongi. Our original plan of getting izakaya did not work out (the restaurant was full), but we ended up at a great restaurant. We went to an okamayaki place, where the food is grilled at the table. After that we wandered around Roppongi going to bars and took a late night!

Can't wait for tomorrow!