"The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers." - Lewis Thomas

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Japan trip
Day 3 - 8th June - Tosho gu shrine, Tokyo (Part 3)

I decided to have another try at seeing Tosho gu, in Ueno park.


Plaque at Ueno train station


Ueno


There was an awareness-raising event for North Korean abductees, so I donated and proudly wore their blue ribbon for the rest of the day


I almost forgot how to write my name and country's name in Chinese. Next time I should memorise how to write "シンガポール"


Newspaper article I was given which I did not understand


Ueno acrobats


Ueno park map. Notice the different orientation from the one from the previous day.


Don't ask me why there's Arabic graffiti here.


Giant face


Shrine


Shop selling Sentai masks and blowup dolls


Tosho gu torii and plaque. Somehow the place escaped destruction during the war. This is obviously proof that Shintoism is the true religion.


Road in


Rock




They had a peace flame, supposedly descended from a fire started by the Hiroshima A-bomb, and merged with one started with roof tiles from Nagasaki.


Lanterns


Crowd


No peeking




Lion


Charms tuned to your birthday


Ema: "You know me. You know what I still need! Please help a lil!
Domo arigato"
???


Ema




Big 600 year old Camphor tree and plaque


Shrine in a shrine


Garden


Latern

Inside the main shrine building, they had Ieyasu Tokugawa's Last Will and Testament, Jinbaori (this was translated as clothes but is not quite correct), armour (presumably - there was no English) and sword. It was another no photography place, so I didn't try anything since no one else was (in contrast to David in Florence) I didn't want to be disemboweled.

The inside of the shrine really showed its age (17th century) and the wood was discoloured.

There were ema hanging stands inside the main shrine. Presumably this was a more powerful place to hang ema than outside.


Carvings.


Main shrine


1651 Karamon (Chinese-style gate) and blurb


Dragon and some description of the shrine


Lanterns


No foul smell today


Five-Storied Pagoda of the former Kan-Eiji Temple and blurb