The Tokyo Affair 2013 - Of Shrines & Spring

First, may I begin with some random shots I accidentally omitted from the previous post? ^_^

Gorgeous weather~ (this was after the Oiran Parade)

Of course I had to take a silly touristy pic =P

My face looked fat but I looked happy so whatever ^_^

 I think I'll never get sick of sakuras~ (✿ ♥‿♥)

BIG super-calm-polar-bear-like dog hanging around Sensoji *hearts*

And now we can move on to another temple we visited in the vicinity of Akihabara, Kanda Myojin (神田明神).

The tori gates, showing the shrines official name, Kanda Jinja 神田神社.

This was an important shrine to the warrior class as well as citizens, especially during the Edo period, as the Shogun himself paid his respects there. Today, 2 of the 3 kami (gods) enshrined at Kanda Myojin are part of the 7 Gods of Fortune thus making the shrine popular with businessmen and entrepreneurs who pray for wealth and prosperity.

I really like this shot of the shrine maiden (miko/巫女) holding her hair in the wind ^_^ I'd been eyeing her for sometime (like a perv >_<) and was glad to get a nice natural shot!

Being so near Akihabara, it was impossible to avoid the anime influence~ Almost all the boards were illustrated!!

Aren't they just the cutest!!（*´▽｀*）

Leaving Kanda, we headed back towards JR Ochanomizu station and popped into the (rather deserted) Yushima Seido Shrine that was on the way.

Unfortunately, the main hall wasn't open that day so we could only take a look around the courtyard.. Most of what could be seen was very simple.

The Yushima Seido shrine (湯島聖堂), originally built as one dedicated to Confucius, was once used as a school for sons of the powerful during the Tokugawa regime and known as the birthplace of school education in Japan. Now the shrine is popular with students all over Japan who come to pray for scholastic success.



Reflection in the super calm water..

It took quite awhile for my friends and I to decide what was the roof decoration.... 'Cos it kind of looked like a rooster but had some dragon details thrown in the mix... I still think it's a dragon but I can't figure out how that rooster-comb-like part fits in. >_< Anyone?

And now I shall wrap up the post with some random foodporn! Ramen in Shibuya, just beside Forever21!

I had the 激辛らめん which was the spiciest they had on the menu...the staff even made sure to mention as he set it down: "very spicy desu". =D But....it wasn't that spicy. It was a nice warm tingly kind of spicy, quite right for the cool weather that time of year. I guess the smooth broth tamed the spiciness a little? But I enjoyed it ^_^ And it was on the 2nd level with a big window looking out over the street so you could people-watch if you got the windowside tables!

Hope you enjoyed reading this short travel post! I still have 2 more to go! ヾ(＾-＾)ノ