Visiting Asakusa

Today my squad of Gaijin Goons and I went to visit Asakusa. It's basically a small part of town where much of the traditional architecture has been preserved. It draws a lot of tourists, but also locals who just want to enjoy the sights without having to go too far.

Standing in the center of the area, you find yourself surrounded by pagodas and temples and shrines.Various booths sell local trinkets: bracelets, necklaces, masks, etc.











As Julien demonstrates on the picture to the right, it's also a great place to, like, punch yourself in the dick or whatever, while standing underneath Shinto statues representing mythical figures. Maybe it's a German thing. I wouldn't punch myself in the dick.

 There are also these quaint little booths where you can purchase a fortune for 100 yen (that's around a dollar.) You're supposed to shake up the tall tin can and draw a stick from
it, picked at random. Upon the stick is a number. Then, you open the drawer with the same number and pick a fortune paper.





Why, here I am, holding mine right now! Let's read what's on it, shall we?

Jesus Christ, that's bland. But hey, God knows my luck in general is terrible, so this is a step up! That's right, there's a silver lining behind every cloud. How clouds are supposed to help you in life, though, is a greater mystery.

At any rate, you're supposed to tie the fortunes here so that they can later on burn them; the fortune scrolls then go into the sky and supposedly come true. Why you would do this if you pick a bad fortune, I don't know. Foxboy here pulled a Regular Fortune too.