Howdy all, and welcome to the first proper vlog from Japan for my trip of a few months back now with a bit of detail for you. Tokyo is a serious city to visit which has more attractions and the like than you could cram into one trip. I have been several times now and there are still plenty of things I haven’t seen. In the 2024 trip my days were utterly packed with so many sites and activities from the Tokyo Skytree to the Ninja Café Experience in Harajuku when I dressed up like a ninja and tested my skills.

Today I am going to write about the temples you can visit. Temples are a great visit in Japan because they are free, impressive, great for photos and don’t generally require half a day to see. I recently did a vlog below) where I visited four of Tokyo’s temples, including the ‘big two’ if you will Sensoji and the Meiji Temple. So I’ll talk a little bit about those four today and maybe mention a couple of others I didn’t get to visit this time around.

Meiji Temple

The Meiji Temple is a temple in the middle of basically a forest not far from Shibuya. Even closer to Harajuku, you get off at Harajuku station and are greeted by a big gate and start a walk through the forest on wide stony paths to the temple. It’s a great place to visit and is next to so much including Takeshita Street and Harajuku, Shibuya and its Scramble Crossing, and Yoyogi Park.

You walk down the path and pass this wall of sake barrels which you will see near some temples. Then you continue along to the shrine through another gate, outside of which you can wash your hands as is the custom. The temple is usually busy, there is a big courtyard and you walk up to the main building where people make an offering, clap and pray.

The shrine is dedicated to the spirit of the Emperior Meiji who passed away in 1912 (he was known as Emperor Mutsuhito during his life time) and his wife. I was lucky enough to witness a small wedding taking place when I was there. This is a Shinto shrine, generally shrines are either Shinto or Buddhist in Japan.

Kanayama Jinja Shrine

This little temple is a little outside Tokyo, between Toyko and Yokohama. Take a train to Kawasaki-Daishi Station and it’s a very short walk maybe five-seven minutes. Be aware this small temple is on the same grounds as a primary school too, the kids were out and singing when I was there!

This is also known as the ‘Penis Shrine’, and basically it is a temple devoted to fertility. Every year they have what has become known in foreign circles as the ‘Penis Festival’ – the Kanamara Festival where people parade holding up statues of phalluses. There is also an iron phallus at the temple. But as amusing as it may sound, this is more about the gift of fertility, for couples looking to conceive. It is as I said, a small temple. You will see little prayers written on small pieces of wood asking for a child etc.

Sogenji

Sogenji is a temple in the district of Asakusa in Tokyo devoted to the Kappa. What is a Kappa? A Kappa is mythical frog like creature which this apparently Buddhist temple is devoted to. Asakusa is a very cool district of Tokyo and there are loads of temples in Asakusa. You’ll see little Kappa statues dotted about the place.

This temple is next to a cemetery and the building isn’t that amazing, but the little statues of Kappas are quite unique and it’s a great little to pop in if you’re Asakusa. The Kappa is apparently an amphibious creature from Japanese Folklore related to a turtle, but with a beak. To me they looked more like a frog. I could be wrong but I saw a Ghibli film earlier this year (The Boy and the Heron) and I think they featured at one point.

Gotokuji

This is a temple I haven’t visited – I wanted to get out there and include it in my vlog but I just didn’t have the time to get there. Gotokuji is better known as the ‘Cat Temple. There are hundreds of not more little statues of cats all with one paw up at the temple in reference to another tale from Japanese Folklore that a cat waved/led li Naotaka to a temple. You can walk from Miyanosaka station, it’s a little bit out of central Tokyo.

Senso-ji

Finally, Senso-ji is probably the number one temple to visit in Tokyo, also in Asakusa around 15-20 minutes walk from Sogenji. Sensoji is a Buddhist temple best entered from the Hozomon Gate – you enter under this amazing huge lantern and then walk a good 500 metres through shops where you can buy food and souvenirs and more.

This temple is predominantly red and it is the most beautiful of the ones I’ve featured today. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo – the original temple was founded in 645CE, however the current buildings including the temple and five-storey pagoda were rebuilt after being destroyed after the Second World War. Don’t miss it, the activity at the shops alone is pretty special but do be aware it gets awfully crowded!

Other temples to consider – Kanda Temple (looks amazing, I may have visited this one in the past), Zojo-ji which I would visit just on the fact that it has an awesome name, and the Inokashira Temple which looks to be in a gorgeous park. Thanks for popping by today. More on Tokyo coming at ya on the blog! Take care wherever you are in world – May the Journey Never End!