TLDR at the end. Please let me know if you notice any mistake or know alternative readings to the kanji (especially for shine names and please provide example). I'm also really open to questions. (And yes I do love shrines and temples).

While traveling to Japan, most people will have some temples and shrines in their itinerary. Some people might think that those are just two words for the same thing, but there is one big difference, temples are Buddhist and shrines are Shinto. In Japanese, temples are called otera お寺 and shrines called jinja 神社. While there is other ways to make the difference between the two, such as architecture and the object of worship, in this post, I just want to highlight the difference that you can see right in the name as they usually finish by distinctive words.

Temple

The full structure name for a temple is usually the following : 〇〇山〇〇院〇〇寺.

The first part come from the Chinese tradition to start a temple name by the name of the mountain, san/zan 山, where it is built, for example Enryaku-ji is build on Mount Hiei. In Japan, temples are not always build on mountain, so the mountain name does not always refer to a physical location.

The second part, in 院, have the meaning of cloister, or where the monk live and the last part, ji/dera 寺 mean temple, or where the Buddha is worshiped. However, there is no real difference between the temples that keep one ending or the other in their usual name.

All temples do not have an official name that contain these three parts, some only have one or two (and the mountain name may not even be in the official name even if they have one). Only one of the parts ending by 寺 or 院 is kept for the usual name of the temple. Some temples are also better known under nicknames.

Some temples also finish by pavilion, dō 堂, but they are usually pavilion that belong to a temple complex.

Examples

Shrines

For shrines, the name usually start by it's location and/or the kami (divinity/god) that is enshrined. The second part indicate the hier

Note : all links in the text lead to articles (like Wikipedia) on the subject and in the examples, it leads to images in Google Maps. When possible, I will give examples that are well known locations and/or places that would be easy to visit for tourists. Feel free to share extra (or better) examples if you can or ask questions about elements you found in a temple or shrine and wonder what they are and if the are associated with one more than the other.

In a previous post, I explained How to make the difference between temple and shrine names and as I said there, it is also possible to see some differences in the architecture and what you will see at shrines and temples that make difference and this is what I want to explore now. While I say "architecture", let's say that I will have a really wide definition that will extend to almost anything you can see, from buildings to decorative elements. I won't go as far as to talk about different architectural styles (but you can read more about shrine # and temple (garan) architecture). Next time you visit a temple or shrine, try to spot these different elements.

Before I even start to explain the different elements, it is important to have some background into the history of the two religions in Japan. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan and have it's roots likely back in prehistoric period of Japan. Buddhism, on the other hand, was introduced to Japan from China and Korea in the middle of the sixth century. Over time, Buddhism took more and more place in Japan, but this did not lead to fight between the two religions. There was actually efforts, especially during the Heian period, to bring them as close as possible. Shrines where located inside of temple complex, Buddhist monks were sometimes shinto priest, some considered that the Buddha are kami (shinto divinity/god), etc. It is only during the Meiji era (start in 1868) that the government decided to make shinto the state religion and enforced a separation of the two rel

Hi all,

I'm looking for advice on my itinerary for 21 days in November. Places to stay, must sees, and so on. I have included questions throughout if anyone can answer with what they would do.

Some notes:

1. The group will be 4 members of 22yo/23yo who can handle heavy walking / big days.
2. We are coming from Australia where the jetlag will be in our favour; us waking up at 9am AU will be 7am in Japan :)
3. A main motivation is seeing the Autumn colours.
4. Locations that run-on into each other are marked with a >
5. There is a lot packed into each day, however this is so we never waste time. I understand we likely will not get to everything as we want to enjoy the flexibility of finding other things to do along the way!

Any and all advice is appreciated!

Tokyo - Stay in Shinjuku or Asakusa?

Day 0: Fly into Haneda in the evening local time - pick up JR pass, pocket wi-fi, etc.

Day 1 (Saturday/12th): Koto + Bunkyo + Shinjuku.

• Daiwa Sushi
• teamLab Planets (Borderless closed) at open
• Tokyo Dome Spo-Dori / LaQua >
  • Oedo Onsen Monogatari - Odaiba will be closed
  • Just aiming for something relaxing and interesting as there will be a lot of time between teamLab and Robot Restaurant. Easy day.
• Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens (should this be viewed at the end of Nov rather than this time?)
• Rest at hostel/anything
• Robot Restaurant >
• Omoide Yakocho for dinner

Day 2 (Sunday/13th): Asakusa + Akhibara

• Senso-Ji
  • Hozomon Gate > Nakimise Dori St > Kaminarimon Gate
• Akhibara
  • Interests: Yodobashi Camera, Mandarake, Radio Centre, VR Ninja Dojo, Kanda Myojin Shrine, Gundam Cafe

Day 3 (Monday/14th): Nikko

• Main temple complex
• Kanangafuchi Abyss

Day 4 (Tuesday/15th): Shinjuku + Harajaku + Shibuya

• Meiji Jingu Shrine
• Jingu Geien Ginkgo Festival (Gaien park)
• Takeshita-dori St >
• Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial of Art >
• Ometesando St >
• Cat St > Shibuya
• Shibuya Crossing (+Hakicho)
• Shopping (Tokyo Hands, Tokyo Honten, etc)

Kanazawa - Stay in K's house?

Day 5 (Wednesday/16th)

• Depart Tokyo very early morning
• Kanazawa Castle & Park >
• Kenrokuen Garden
• Explore Higashiyama area
  • Interests: Ochaya Shima, Gold Leaf Sakuda, Utatsyama District
• Night life / Korinbo Jibiruba

Day 6 (Thursday/17th)

• Myouryuji / Ninja Temple (I heard they can be very unfriendly to foreigners?)
• Explore Nomachi
• D.T. Suzuki Museum
• Explore Kakinokibatake OR Hirosaka & Dewamachi
• Nomura Clan Samura

Hey,

My friends and I are planning for a trip to Japan for 2 weeks after we graduate from university in late May 2022. Our group is 6 people confirmed, but there are potentially up to 3 more coming. I'm a total noob with planning this type of stuff, I've been researching a bit myself and was able to make an 8 day itinerary which will be further below, but I'm very interested in hearing what you guys think of it, as I want to make sure I do things that are feasible and worth it.

Our age group is going to be 22/23. Tentatively, the date we were looking at was the 25th of May to the 8th of June roughly, but I'm not sure if we are too late for planning around that timespan or not. We wanted to get our tickets in around October/ of this year as well. We have pretty diverse interests, but we really want to try local cuisine and do some off the beaten path stuff as well. We are pretty big on checking out the shrines and walking around a lot just to explore as well, so some days of this itinerarymay seem sparse, but let me know if that's a good idea or not.

I'm sort of in charge of planning it out, and wanted to make sure I can touch all the bases and such that are important. It's a pretty standard trip so far in terms of the cities, but we are totally looking to visit other smaller towns and cities as well. I have a few more questions at the bottom that I will write out as well.

-------------

Day 1:

-Arrive at the Kansai Airport in the evening

-Get situated in AirBnB

-Explore area around, Dotonbori as well.

Day 2:

-Namba Yasaka Shrine

-Osaka Castle

-Kuromon Market

-Dotonbori again. (I don't think many people are good with jetlag, so this is for that + just a better/longer span of exploring. I and one other person in the group frequently travel to Asia so we are used to getting through our jetlag under control pretty fast but not sure about the others).

Day 3:

-Wake up early and Shinkansen to Kyoto

-Kiyomizudera temple as early as possible

-Matsubara-dori, Sannen-Zaka,, and Ninnenzaka

-Chion-In temple

-Rest

-Nishiki Market

-Fushimi no Inari

-Back to AirBnB

-Go explore the streets again.

-Fushimi no Inari again. (I have a friend who visited once before and he insists we only check out a bit in the afternoon, and wants to go in the dead of night which sounds pretty fun)

(I fear this day is a bit too packed, what do you think?)

Day 4:

-Tenryu-Ji temple

-Arashiyama

-Kinkaku-Ji temple

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

Because she wanted to see the task manager.

They’re on standbi

A [two-page interview with Gekirock from April 2020] (https://gekirock.com/interview/2020/04/unlucky_morpheus.php), just before the release of the "Takiyasha Hime" EP.
All the members (minus Kasumi) are present in this interview.
The interviewer is Ryosuke Arakane.

It mainly discusses the Takiyasha Hime EP, the Lunatic East 2019 Tour Final Blu-ray, and their Kanda Myojin Hall performance which ended up getting canceled due to Covid.

NOTE: This is my translation and there could be some errors, if you spot any errors then make sure to correct me.

START

Unlucky Morpheus' new single "Takiyasha Hime" is an ambitious and challenging piece of music that takes a Japanese-style approach to the legend of Taira no Masakado, the tiger of Bandou.
Since their last album "Change of Generation", the band has become more and more active, and their vitality is constantly surprising listeners with new innovative projects and amazing ideas.
This album was also a surprise to their conventional fans, which were amazed by the flexible musicality of Ankimo.
We talked with the six members about the content of this album, which channels the Japanese style beautifully.

• First of all, before talking about this EP, your Blu-ray "Lunatic East 2019 Tour Final" (March 2020) has been released.

Shiren: Last year, Unlucky Morpheus (Ankimo) did a huge 17 show tour, and that's the final performance.
In addition to our original music, we used to do arrangements for Touhou project, so we did shows that were composed of those songs.

Fuki: There isn't a single song from the previous tour ("Unlucky Morpheus 10th Anniversary Oneman Tour "Change of Generation""), so I think the fans have been waiting for this.

Ogawa: The tour itself was very intense, and we visited some places for the first time.
We became more like a band through the tour.
It gave us a sense of accomplishment.
Which I think we were able to create with everyone, including the audience.

Fumiya: Ankimo is a band that originally started with arrangements for Touhou project, so there's some nostalgia there.
Throughout this tour, we've been able to share our time with each other, and I feel that we've become more band-like.

Fuki: From a drumming point of view, the Touhou project arrangements are tougher, right?

Fumiya: Physically, yes.
I have to step on the double-bass all the time at melodic speed metal tempo (laughter).

• You need to b

Pilot on me!!