Asakusa is amazing.

Today I visited Asakusa, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Interestingly, most Japanese people are both Buddhist and Shinto, and often shrines (Shinto places to honor special gods and goddesses) and temples (places to honor Buddha) are found next to each other.

In these pictures you can see people preparing for worship by washing their hands in a special fountain. They also write prayers on paper and burn them to send the prayers onward. As the prayer paper burns, people gather around this ‘holy smoke’. They believe it has the power to heal aches and pains.

Later the same afternoon, the Japanese government honored us with a special meal of tempura in a famous restaurant nearby, and we ate in a traditional way, on folded knees at a low table- with chopsticks.

Remember I told you I would have something unusual for breakfast. Well, I did: picked vegetables, fish, rice and seaweed with miso soup. I am taking lots of risks as a learner on this trip!