Japan Trip 2012, Day 5 - Ryouhou-ji

Coming back from Kawaguchi-ko Station, we decided to stop by a shrine on the way back and offer some prayers to the moe gods.

Yes, you read that right. There is a shrine within the Tokyo area that's dedicated to the deities representing the ideal of Japanese cuteness, sentimentality, and all that other stuff. I'm not quite sure what to think, but eh. It's also kinda small, you walk in, look around, and walk out.

All the pictures I took of stuff we did today can be found at my public album site, though there's not much more to see than what's here.
http://caelk.shutterfly.com/pictures/310

Getting there took us to Nishi Hachi-ouji Station around Tokyo. We left Kawaguchi-ko station and boarded a local train to Ootsuki, where JR actually runs through. From there we went off to Nishi Hachi-ouji Station then hoofed it up highway 20 to the shrine. When we went, it was right across from Flesh Food Ohmiya, which I suppose serves groceries to zombies or something.

The shrine is kinda standard, I guess, there's not much around. Right when you enter, there's a sign to the right which explains what's what in the shrine. I'll... just let you see for yourselves.

I guess since it's the moe shrine, it must have moe characters somewhere... except there's also gatchapon machines on the premises as well. They're next to the counter where protective charms and stuff can be had, although you apparently don't have to get some of them from here. I've seen them at White Canvas in Akiba.

Other than the ema stand, there's a second shrine for... something... but that's really all that's here. I went ahead and got a charm from the elderly lady at the counter, and looked around a bit before we headed back to our hotel.

The area around Nishi Hachi-ouji is actually the place where the shrines to the Seven Fortunes are as well - a good amount of urban hiking will bring you to one temple of each: Bishamonten, Fukurokuju, and others. However, since we both just got off a mountain, we decided not to spend all our effort walking around the streets for shrines and instead spent all our efforts walking the streets (and stairs) in Akihabara for cool stuff.

Pictures: http://caelk.shutterfly.com/pictures/310