September 22nd
Today I went to Asakusa with a group of girls from my international house! It took longer than expected to arrive, but that's only because we got lost. The subways can be a little confusing, but I hope I can learn to read them better!
When we finally arrived at Asakusa there were many people on the street that were offering to show foreigners around. These people could all speak English really well but the girls I was with agreed that we should explore on our own, so we told them that we will all be living here for the year and they seemed uninterested in showing us around after that. I guess it was only for the tourist that don't understand Japan. Oh well..
Asakusa is a really big shrine with many shops that surround the outside. So the girls and I went and looked at the shops before entering the shrine. After we were done shopping we observed how the natives were entering under the red lantern and touching it. We ask someone there why, and they told us it was for good luck. As we entered we all touched the red lantern as we entered. Inside the main gate there was a place where we could get fortunes and we all had to get one (why not)!!! Mine is a good to average fortune, but everyone seemed to have good ones so it was interesting to read what the fortune said the future holds! We entered the main shrine and again watched the natives. We noticed that they would donate and then clap three times and pray. So we followed their examples. The inside was soooo beautiful, but no pictures allowed (sadness). After we existed the main shrine we walked around a bit and saw an older man telling the story of Super Man. Japanese Super Man is really different from America's, because when I first saw Super Man I thought he was the bad guy. (Boy was I wrong) After the show finished and we had all the food we could eat, we all wanted to go back home because we just felt soooo tired.
I hope I can see the Super Man show again one day!
Today I went to Asakusa with a group of girls from my international house! It took longer than expected to arrive, but that's only because we got lost. The subways can be a little confusing, but I hope I can learn to read them better!
When we finally arrived at Asakusa there were many people on the street that were offering to show foreigners around. These people could all speak English really well but the girls I was with agreed that we should explore on our own, so we told them that we will all be living here for the year and they seemed uninterested in showing us around after that. I guess it was only for the tourist that don't understand Japan. Oh well..
Asakusa is a really big shrine with many shops that surround the outside. So the girls and I went and looked at the shops before entering the shrine. After we were done shopping we observed how the natives were entering under the red lantern and touching it. We ask someone there why, and they told us it was for good luck. As we entered we all touched the red lantern as we entered. Inside the main gate there was a place where we could get fortunes and we all had to get one (why not)!!! Mine is a good to average fortune, but everyone seemed to have good ones so it was interesting to read what the fortune said the future holds! We entered the main shrine and again watched the natives. We noticed that they would donate and then clap three times and pray. So we followed their examples. The inside was soooo beautiful, but no pictures allowed (sadness). After we existed the main shrine we walked around a bit and saw an older man telling the story of Super Man. Japanese Super Man is really different from America's, because when I first saw Super Man I thought he was the bad guy. (Boy was I wrong) After the show finished and we had all the food we could eat, we all wanted to go back home because we just felt soooo tired.
I hope I can see the Super Man show again one day!
