• Travel

    Rinnoji Temple

    I have mixed feelings of Rinnoji Temple in Nikko. Yes, the temple made it as a World Heritage site. Yes, the temple is big. Yes, the temple has other locations within Nikko associated with it. Yes, the temple has a nice garden in its grounds. No, the temple does not allow you to take photos of it…

  • Spirituality,  Travel

    Blessings from Nikko Toshogu Shrine

    Nikko was a place I looked forward to visiting. Unfortunately, as some of you already know from my blog, I had a rather subpar experience with Nikko. When I was in Japan again, I thought about giving Nikko a second chance however destiny seemed to have other plans for me. The day I was en route to Nikko, I ended up not transferring trains so that on a whim, I could visit and experience Sendai. Honestly, I can’t be any happier about that last minute change of plans as Sendai was such a breath of fresh air for me.

    As disappointing as Nikko was, I must say that something good did come out of my trip. At Nikko’s Toshogu Shrine, I got blessed by a Shinto priest. More on this in a moment.

  • Travel

    Daibutsu aka The Great Buddha of Kamakura

    Since I was already in Kamakura, I figured it’d do me some good to at least visit the Great Buddha aka Daibutsu of Kotokuin Temple. After all, the Great Buddha was one of the things I had wanted to see in Kamakura. Unfortunately, Kotokuin Temple, like many other temples and shrines in Japan had an admission fee. While I understand how financially helpful it may be for places of worship to collect admission fees, I couldn’t help but to feel bitter about it.