Day 19: Tradition

I had the realization today that I'm well over the half-way point of my trip. I haven't even done anywthing! What the heck!

Now that that's out of the way, I had decided to go to Asakusa today. Not for the usual things like Senso-ji which I've done before and I find way too busy (but I should still try to see it late at night some time). Instead, I headed for Mokuhankan, a print-making shop run by woodblock printer (and YouTuber and Twitch streamer and...) David Bull.

I had originally become interested in visiting after I had been suggested one of his YouTube videos (by the algorithm!!) about washi (Japanese paper) and then prompted binged all his old videos.

The video is pretty interesting and I didn't think I would watch an hour-long video about something I wasn't particularly interested in, but David was clearly very passionate and engaging, so I ended up breezing right through it.

Anyway, when I stopped in, Mr. Bull (after previously calling him David in the previous sentence I decided maybe I'm not on a first-name basis) was busy helping out some other customers and then on the phone afterwards so I didn't actually end up talking to him (mainly because I'm awkward and didn't want to lurk after having made my purchase lol). I did end up buying an [ukiyo-e] woodblock print for ¥7,000.

It was cool to get to see the studio in person and also I found it interesting that David was walking around barefoot in his shop. It's his shop though!

After that, I walked around a bit, decided the Asakusa area was too busy for me and then headed home. Since I hadn't been out very long, I thought it would be best to at least walk a little, so I ended up walking a bit to Kuramae station and going home from there instead. On the way, I played a few crane games at Adores, but luckily I didn't win anything this time (I did win a huge pillow yesterday and I'm like really hoping I can find a vacuum seal bag to compress all my pillows and plushes and they'll all fit)

Back in Ningyocho, where I'm staying, it appears that they were holding the 18th (annual?) doll festival. This makes a lot of sense since Ningyocho literally means Doll Town and the area historically harbored many doll makers and craftsmen.

There were a ton of stalls selling little knick-knacks, dolls, handkerchiefs, and other handicraft. I didn't get anything today but might take a closer look tomorrow since it seems to be a 3 day event.

I did walk down the street for a while looking at all of the stalls and then noticed a cool looking temple. At first I had wondered what the temple was called, but there's actually an easy trick that can sometimes give these things away. So basically, I knew the station immediately nearby was called Suitengumae Station. The suffix mae in Suitengumae actually means before but in context means near. So I was near the temple called Suitengu!

There are also other ways you can use stations names to orient yourself as well, pretty nifty.

I found out after I got home and looked it up that the temple is devoted to conception and childbirth so I probably didn't need to pay my respects at this particular temple!! I had wondered why there were so many couples there LOL

I had also gotten another goshuin while I was there, and it was another of the paper kind you need to paste into your goshuincho, so I guess I will need to buy a glue stick or something to paste it in. I should probably check if there's something specific I'm supposed to get!