Toyokawa-shi

Today is the Monday of the con so everyone is packing up and preparing to go home. However, before heading back to the normal world again Atsu, Shu, Atsushi, and I made plans to go to the Toyokawa Inari Fox Temple! We packed up the Van and I said my final goodbyes to both Ware and Sekki as I would not be seeing either of them for the rest of my trip. I gave Sekki a big American hug and pretended to break his spine just as he asked me not to do 🫢 It was sad saying goodbye but I still had a bunch of day in front of me and I was excited to spend it with my friends!

We drove about an hour or so away to get to the shrine but it was definitely worth it! While on the way up to the Shrine, there was a bunch of food stands lining the walkways. I noticed these interesting sugar coated apples and Atsu ended up walking over and buying one for me, probably because it was pretty clear I'd never seen them before 😆 It was a very interesting treat because the hard outer coating felt like it would break my teeth if I bit down but it ended up being brittle and not as hard as it looks. The sugar got caught on my beard so eating it was a bit difficult but it's always fun to taste new and different things!

Foxes are super adorable and Shu and Atsushi both have fox characters so obviously everyone was excited to see it. He also explained that the fox statues were actually tombstones for foxes who had died. Each and every fox statue had a different posture and expression so it was really amazing to see so many statues that were very similar but also very unique.

Shu explained that the white flags were also placed by people who made donations to the shrine. By making the donation, a flag with a message written on it could be left. I'm not sure exactly what is allowed to be written on the flags or what the custom is for leaving one. There was a super long line for getting to the fox cemetary and the path was lined with these white flags from people who made donations to the temple. Again, I feel that I should become more educated on the zen and buddhist relgions before I revisit Japan so I can have more informed observations when visiting these temples.

Shu was explaining to me that the some of the fox imagery has foxes with scrolls in their mouths because they bring messages from the gods. On the way out of the shrine I ended up buying some fox scroll treats and giving it to one of my Fox friends in America for their birthday a couple weeks after. People also would leave coins on the foxes but I'm not sure the exact reason why. It did make the fox statues look cuter though! I laughed because there were a couple of kids looking in in the small crevases of stone for coins and one exclaimed "Wow I found a 100 yen coin!"

After observing the various foxes we made our way out to the area where we could receive Omikuji (fortunes). The fortunes were kept in these small ceramic foxes and after making a small donation you could keep the fox and remove the fortune within it. The foxes were so cute I had to grab a couple to give to friends when I was back in America. However, if you get an undesirable fortune you're supposed to tie it to the walls of the temple and leave it be. Hopefully none of the foxes I brought back have a bad fortune inside 😇

We grabbed a couple foods. One of the strangest foods was a strawberry funari which was essentially rice with strawberry and fried dough. This was apparently not a normal think in Japan and we bought it specifically just to see what it would be like 😆 We all got a taste of it and gave our opinion on the taste. I don't think any of us liked it much and I remember saying something along the lines of "wow it's so good that you guys should eat the rest"

On the way back to the station, I realized that we had not gotten a picture together as an entire group and asked if we could get one before we went our separate ways. We stopped at a reststop and took a timed group picture in front of a life-size dango for no particular reason.

Shu pointed out to me a sign that instructed people not to feed the monkeys. Suppossedly the monkeys might get too used to getting food and possibly attack if you get to close with food. It's interesting because this is not a worry we would have at all in America. I suppose we do have "don't feed the geese" signs for feeding Canadian Geese, but I'd much rather have monkeys around rather than Canadian Geese. No one likes Canadian Geese 😆

I said goodbye to Shu and Atsushi at the subway station in Nagoya and then Atsuya took me back to the nearby hotel that I'd be staying at in Nagoya. I would say this was the hardest part of the trip because I knew the best part was coming to an end and I wouldn't get to see the people I had such wonderful experiences with for a long time. However, I know it won't be the last time we meet and I can already begin looking forward to when we meet again ❤️Read more