I was up before the crows – indeed I barely slept – and I was itching to begin. Unfortunately nothing was open, so I repacked (since I’ll be shipping luggage soon), did my laundry and walked around the local area for a while. I’m at Asakusa, just a hop and a skip from the famous Senso-Ji Temple. In my early morning wanderings I thought to buy a fortune like I had many times before. Here’s what I got:
If the text is too difficult to read it says “The clear moon is covered by thick clouds. The sky got dark and doesn’t get fine. A red flower decayed to a half, the bad fortune is found among the happiness. Though you want and try to make a thing perfect, it hurt your mind with trouble some matters. They warn you that never think of excessive desire, impossible like to sail so far by boat.”
This is a bad fortune, and it goes on to say that the worst will come true. Requests will not be granted, lost items will remain lost, don’t built a house, don’t go on vacation, don’t marry etcetera. I did the traditional thing of tying the bad fortune to the supplied metal rack so my bad luck was transferred away. Poor metal rack!
Senso-Ji has changed for the better since we first visited it 22 years ago and it rightly deserves its place as one of Tokyo’s foremost tourist destinations. Today I saw more tourists here than I ever have, including from parts of the world (such as the Middle East) that I have traditionally not seen tourists from in Japan. Asakusa is ground central in Japan’s overtourism problem, and it was easy to see why today. I dodged them all as best I could and hopped on a train to Ikebukuro, a part of Tokyo that few tourists add to their schedules until they’ve been here a few times.
After an early and quick lunch, I spent the day (and I mean this literally – I was there almost 7 hours) exploring all my favourite shops and Game Centers in Ikebukuro. This has become a tradition-of-sorts with me – coming here the first day of every Japan trip – and while I had initially chosen it since rain had been forecast the weather brightened and became hot and sunny. It looks like I chased the rain away.
Ikebukuro is a bit of an almost Akihabara, and I think it would one day like to seize the crown of otaku paradise. But I doubt that will happen since Akihabara is always improving as well. Not to worry Ikebukuro: being the second best place for otaku shopping is still a grand achievement considering the heights of Akihabara!
Of course I played some crane games and bought gachas and ‘had a go’ at a few retro games at Mikado – and I’ve written of such things before and will eventually get to them this trip. Considering how little sleep I’d had I’m surprised I didn’t collapse at some point. I’ll chalk it up to excitement 🙂
But my reserves only last so long. Tomorrow is a new day and I’ve got a new and (hopefully) special place to visit. I hope it’s worth the trip! Find out tomorrow…
You should have immediately grabbed another fortune. In fact do a best-of-three just in case.