Last weekend, I took the train out to Mitake-san, a small mountain close to Tokyo which has a town and a Shinto shrine at its peak. Above is one of the huge guard dog statues at the foot of the shrine, with a sunset over Tokyo in the distance.
The zigzag papers below are hung on a rope to show the boundary of the sacred space. They're origami, made by Shinto priests from a single sheet of square paper.
I really like seeing the more traditional/early pictograms of kanji - Chinese characters. They mean giving something to someone higher than you.
This is a fox god, which according to one of my co-teachers here at the university is "one of the most popular gods". Go fox! There were two of them in a quiet little shrine off the main shrine area, their stares were stunning.
More zigzag papers; they're called "o-shide".
Sunset, mist, and trees.
On Friday night after work, Carrie, Ross and I went out and had a beer in an izakaya (traditional Japanese bar), and they had these giant beers that made us feel like hobbits. First week of work ... kam-pai!!
