Silent Protest

After Roppongi Hills, Maki took me to Asakusa – the old shitamachi or “downtown” area. It’s famous for Senso-ji; you guessed it, a temple. I was avoiding temples and shrines here because I have seen too many at this point and they are better in Kyoto (haha, I know I am sounding totally territorial). Senso-ji was actually quite nice; the walkway leading up to it had little souvenir shops. Being in Asakusa was like being in Kyoto, but Maki pointed out that Kyoto is a bit more “sophisticated.” She is being objective, I think, as Maki is originally from Sapporo.

I did check out Yasukuni Shrine, earlier in the day the (in)famous pro-war shrine that always stirs up China and Korea whenever the PM visits and leaves the US and Europe sorta scratching their heads. Personally, Japan is still in severe denial about what happened in WWII and I know I am not the only one that says this. So, I did go to Yasukuni out of sheer curiosity this morning before I went to Shibuya (I did my honor’s historiography seminar paper on it) but I did not buy any Shinto charms, nor did I go into the museum, which would have required me to pay admission (it was closed anyway). Normally I buy Shinto charms, or “mamori” because while each shrine or temple has the exact same 50 mamori, on the back indicates the shrine that it is from. Some shrines are even special – Fushimi Inari Taisha is the patron shrine for merchants, so I got my dad a mamori to help his ice cream business. But for Yasukuni, I refused to spend my money for what it stood for, in spite of the fact that it was peaceful looking; that was my form of silent protest. Nonetheless, for research purposes I would enter the museum, but not this time.

Speaking of pro-war/pro-conservative stuff, when Maki and I were at Roppongi Hills, the “black trucks” spewing out anti-Article 9, pro-Yasukuni Shrine stuff passed by us. Thanks to Mark’s advice, I knew not to take photos of it; I told that to Maki and she told me that I was right. Not only did the black vans have huge Japanese flags trailing behind them, the car was covered in slogans and the kanji for Yasukuni Shrine. I felt a bit uneasy; I have seen trucks like these in Kyoto, but in Tokyo I heard that they were more hardcore and that they hang around Yasukuni Shrine a lot. But when I was there because it was so early (I finished walking on the grounds by 9:30) there weren’t any trucks. Maybe because it was raining earlier as well; rainy season has started though the news (in Japanese!) is saying that the rainy season is strange this year.

Maki and I had dinner together in this little Italian place that I had a quick glance at while getting out of the Asakusa subway station – I thought it would be one of those really seedy places but it was good; the pizza was almost like NYC pizza. Greek food + NYC pizza = very happy Maria.