Visit to the shrine

Today we finally made it to visit the shrine for New Years. Quite a bit late, but we weren't the only ones doing it and we didn't need to contend with the crowds of January 1st-3rd.



People lining up to drop some coins and make a prayer / wish.



For the those who really want good luck, people write their prayers on special wooden boards for the coming year. A nice money spinner for the shrine.



For ￥100-500 you can take a grab at the fortune lucky dip. These are little slips of paper that tell you if the coming year will be hot or not. 2008 is one ultra lucky year for me, apparently I can do no wrong this year, so I'm keeping my slip.