A Walk around Shibamata / 柴又の散歩

Its the last month of the year which can only mean two things if you live in Japan. First - its bonenkai season (a celebration of the end of the year) and secondly, its time for the annual End of Year Jumbo Lottery. A couple of years ago, before we bought are lottery tickets, we walked around the neighborhood of Shibamata - this was before I started writing a blog. And that particular year we actually won 10,000yen (about $100 US). The other day as Mikako was watching tv, she saw this piece about people going to a temple called "Taishakuten" in Shibamata before buying their lottery tickets, and since we didn't win anything last year, we decided we go to Shibamata again before buying our End of the Year Jumbo Lottery tickets. But what Shibamata is really known for is the popular movie series "Tora-san". But I'm going to skip talking about "Tora-san" because we didn't get a chance to go to the Tora-san Museum this time around. And afterwards, it will be off to Ginza to the most popular Lottery ticket selling booth at Window #1. I hope we won't have to stand in line for three hours though.

師走になりましたね。年末は大のイベントは二つあると思う。一つは忘年会の季節。もう一つは年末ジャンボー宝くじを買う時期だ！一昨年年末ジャンボ宝くじを買う前に柴又に遊んでた。そして、その年なんと一万円当たりました。そして今年美香子が何かの番組を見たら、いろんな人が年末ジャンボ宝くじを買う前に柴又にあるお寺「帝釈天」でお参りするって。柴又と言えば「男はつらいよ」シリーズの寅さんの町で有名ですが、こうゆう事もあるんだね。去年宝くじが当たらなかったので、今年はまた宝くじを買う前柴又に行ってみる。そのあとは銀座の名物宝くじ売り場へ。そしてあの大人気の一番窓口。でも今年は三時間も並びたくないね。

Tora-san / 寅さん

Path to Taishakuten / 帝釈天参道

I just the love the atmosphere of this place - its very Showa.

この昭和の雰囲気が大好き。

Taishakuten Temple Gate / 帝釈天の門


Detail of the Temple Gate / 門に描いてるアート（描いてるとは違うね、細かくて凄いね。）

Taishakuten Temple / 帝釈天

Temple Bell / お寺の鐘

Area to wash your hands before heading to the main temple / お参りする前に手洗う場所

Inside the Temple Grounds / 帝釈天の周り

We also had lunch while we were in Shibamata but you know I will save that for another post. After lunch as we were headed towards Ginza, we did make one more stop. We had to check out the dagashiya (retro-style candy store) and picked up a few goodies.

柴又に昼食も食べましたが、分かる通りそれはまた別のネタで紹介します。銀座行く前にもう一つの店を入ってみた。それは柴又にあった駄菓子屋。ちょっと買い物をした。