Temples and Shrines
Kyoto is one big temple and shrine city. But Tokyo can hold its own too. Here are some of the temples and shrines we visited in Tokyo.
The most famous and biggest temple complex is Senso-Ji in Asakusa. It was very easy for us to get there. We get in at Shibuya which is on one end of the Ginza subway and get out at the other end in Asakusa.
The entrance to Senso-Ji
Where is Waldo (Trip)?
A couple of college students asked to talk to us, just before we could enter this gate. They were members of an English conversation group at a nearby University and needed some extra practice. We don't get to talk much English except between ourselves, so we took the oppotunity to chat with them as they gave us a tour of this Buddhist temple.
The gate is Kaminari-mon, the south entrance to the temple complex. The two guardians gods left and right from the entrance are called Raijin (God of Thunder) and Fujin (God of Wind). Together they stop the bad spirits that are traveling on your back to go through the port and so release you from them (or so one of the students explained me). The large lantern in the middle of the port shows the name of this gate and on the side major donors.
A shopping street leads to the actual temple complex
Between Kaminari-mon and the temple grounds is a busy shopping street. They sell souvenirs, food, and clothing. I took the photo towards closing time. At mid-day this street is packed with people.
Five story Pagoda Entrance to the temple grounds
Touch me for good health The temple grounds with the main temple Senso-ji in the back The temple Gardens with several small shrines.
Old and sick people touch the statue on the left to be cured from their
ailments. On the right side of the middle photo you can get your fortune for Y100. You
hold a metal cylinder with a small hole on one side. The metal cylinder holds sticks with
numbers on them. 
You shake one of the sticks out of the cylinder and open a small
drawer showing the number on the stick. In the drawer is a paper with your luck. The
drawer can actually also contain bad luck. Both me and Trip received regular fortune. If
you receive bad luck you can wrap your piece of paper with bad luck around the ball shown
on the right to get rid of it (the bad luck that is).