Posts Tagged ‘anime’

It was only a matter of time until I made this post, detailing all of our anime exploits   One activity we had planned ahead of time was going to Namja Town and taking part in some Idolm@ster and K-On! special food items.  I’m not a huge fan of Idom@ster, but I’ve seen some of it and I’ve seen both K-On! seasons (ok, I admit, I like K-On!) and the food actually didn’t look too bad.  I have to say this is probably the geekiest thing I’ve done in a while, especially since we were somewhat out of place in Namja Town which is really oriented towards children.  However there were plenty of fellow anime fans there, although all Japanese, so we fit in just fine.

Main course was the “Tokachitsukuchite Burger”	A small desert from Mio, complete with a strawberry	“Makoto’s Stretched Sparkling Ice Cream”

Full sized K-On! movie promo poster	All the cards we got . . . yeah we ate a lot of food	All the items I’d bought so far anime related

Either on the same day or shortly after, we ventured out into the Tokyo Suburbs to visit the Lucky Star Shrine which is a must for any anime pilgrimage.  Although Lucky Star has been around for a while now, there was still plenty of evidence still at the shrine, although we were the only anime fans in attendance, as that particular day was some sort of festival parents bring their children to visit the shrine.  Here are a few pictures of Ema and some other assorted pictures at the shrine.

Small mini shrine outside the main shrine, for Tsukasa and Kagami	Shrine entrance, Lucky Star OP anyone?	HARD GAY!

Ohana from Hanasku Iroha	Kagami	More Kagami, although I think this may have gotten lost in translation

Hard Off, my favorite store	RUN AWAY!	Shrine grounds overview, with the Ema area

This is the 4th year I’ve gone to Anime Detour. Although this year it was held at the Crown Plaza instead of the venerable Thunderbird, good times were had by all anime club members. I found the programming to be lacking however, at least compared to previous years, and the hotel’s capacity wasn’t as large as I had expected. Anyhow, as requested, here are the 5 pictures I took that even remotely turned out. Most are dark and underexposed, you’ve been forewarned:

Ema are small wooden plaques at Shinto shrines, where worshipers write their prayers. They are left at the shrine so that Kami (gods) can come and read them. We stooped to view many of these at the various Shinto shrines we visited and some were quite interesting. Below are a few selections of what we saw; most of these are anime themed Ema taken from Shirakawa-go since this was the setting for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. There are a few from other random anime series, including H2O. Although sadly we didn’t have enough time to visit the Luck Star shrine in Tokyo, the Shirakawa-go shrine was quite fun. Its amazing fans journey this far just to see the setting for Higurashi and to pay homage, although now that I think about it I guess I traveled from Minnesota . . .

Ema in Shirakawa-go

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Unknown Ema Unknown Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Unknown Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Random Moyashimon themed Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Unknown Ema Unknown Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Unknown Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Unknown Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema I’m guessing Arurū from Utawarerumono Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema Unknown Ema Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Ema A shot of all the Ema

Other Ema

I don’t believe these characters are from any particular series, the student who placed this Ema is simply wishing to do well on an up coming exam. Another random Ema featuring a lion-tan Miko Ah yes, something we all wish for, World Peace. Ema featuring beckoning cats A nice shot of clusterd Ema And yet, more Ema!

And thats all I’ve got for Ema related pictures. Like I said I’m sure this pales in comparison to the Lucky Star shrine Ema, but these were enjoyable none the less. If you see any that are misslabled (which I’m sure there are), or know the anime series for some of the unknown Ema, feel free to post a comment and I’ll update the captions.