Octopus Burn

Me and Aki at the entrance to the temple in Asakusa.

Aki, one of the sixth-year students at the conference and a native of Tokyo, kindly offered to show me around the city on Sunday. We started the day in Asakusa, an older area of the city with a famous temple (the country abounds with temples). We ate kaminariokoshi or "thunder candy", which looks like miniature rice crispy treats but it's crunchier and has a mild sesame and honey flavor. The candy is named after the god of thunder who oversees the temple.

The temple at Asakusa.

Aki showed me how wave the smoke into my face and hair for good luck. Then we climbed the steps into the temple and he showed me how to toss a coin into the big wooden box, put my hands together and make my wish known to the gods. Inside the temple, he explained that, according to my year of birth, my god is Senju Kannon, or "God of 1000 hands", that really awesome god you sometimes see in Indian stories that has all those arms.

The smoke is good luck.

After the temple, Aki insisted that we eat Udon noodles, as this is the part of the city that is known for making traditional Udon.

Lucky for me, you are allowed to be messy when eating noodles in Japan.

The next stop was Harajuku, a street in Tokyo known for its weirdly dressed young people. Kind of like Haight St in San Fransisco, but Japanese. And weirder.

Harajuku St on a sunny, crowded weekend.

An example of the Harajuku style.

Apparently the style where girls dress like dolls with lacy knee socks, puffy dresses, and big bows in their hair, is known as Gothic Lolita.

Lastly, we went to Shibuya, where Aki says the young people more our age hang out. It is equally crowded, with lots of expensive European shops, a 10 story music store, and the world's largest traffic scramble. On the walk to Shibuya, we came across a funny-looking food stand, which turned out to serve Aki's favorite Japanese delicacy. Takoyaki, literally translates as "octopus burn", is deep fried octopus and comes with a variety of toppings. Aki selected mayo and scallions, and we enjoyed the treat on the street, watching the passers-by.

Aki and his Takoyaki stand.