I've just come back from a shrine after saying prayers. Let me show you how Japanese people visit a shrine.
As seen in the episode 12 of Lucky Star, people visit a shrine in the middle of the night on the first day of a new year. And as a Japanese, I drove to a nearby shrine so that I would be blessed by God this year. This is the entrance of the shrine and it is called "Torii".
As it passed 12pm and we welcomed a new year, somebody set off fireworks. You can see people lining up to say prayers. I arrived at this shrine 5 minutes before the midnight, but people were already waiting for the new year to come.
There were many kinds of charms. And what you see in the center is called "Ema", on which people write their wishes. It cost about 6.6 us dollars. But if my wish comes true, it must be worth paying.
We are supposed to hang an "Ema" on these bars. As I was one of the people who came very early, there weren't many Emas being hung.
I chose this "Ema" to make my wish come true. The words you're seeing on the right say "You will have luck and fortune".
Writing "World Peace" may be good, but I did my duty as an otaku. For those who can' t read it:"Hope we have a second season of Lucky Star". I'm sure many anime otakus are hoping for the same thing, so I represented those people.
This is a sacred lot. It says I will have a bit of luck. Not too bad. I was sweating if I might draw a bad luck. I know whether people can spend a new year comfortably depends on their effort, but we all want God to be on our side.
The purpose of going to the shrine was of course to say prayers, but I was secretly hoping to see shrine maidens. And in fact I saw three shrine maidens working. But I stopped short of taking pics of them due to their privacy. Sorry you guys. But as for me, I felt really happy to see the fireworks at the shrine and hope you enjoy seeing those pics =)
