Let's tie the knot.
The space is already packed!
Is there still some space to add to?
This is amazing right from the start.
They look so cute.
Lots of little and larger ones.
That's fascinating.
There are so many.
And so continues Part2 of Natchan's and Cathy Cat's tour of Kamakura
a popular city near Tokyo.
Did you already see the last episode?
I wasn't doing so good in that one...
Natchan and I had set out to hunt for lucky shrines and items
to boost our fortune.
Let's see if this episode of our Japan in Motion collaboration
will change our fortune for the better.
Hey it's Cathy Cat from Ask Japanese!
I am Natsuko Asou from Japan in Motion, aka Natchan.
- And so... - We are really stuffed!
Super full, and we are going round cool places in Kamakura but...
But there is one more thing we WANT right?!
In Japanese we call it "The other stomach".
Exactly! Even if you are full with food, you can still have some sweets.
Let's get some!
That must be the place!
Store name. Imoyoshi-kan
Imoyoshi-kan is famous for using sweet potatoes in their desserts.
but we actually came here because we had heard online
that they offer a dish called the Love Fortune Ice cream.
WOOOOOW
Have a look at that!
This looks so cute!
What makes this ice cream so popular are the heart shaped marshmallows on top
They look supercute and tasty so this dessert is a popular item
featured on Instagram feeds as well.
Ready go...
Now we had a big bite.
Do you feel like you will have more luck in love?
Maybe before the end of this shoot, I might encounter a handsome partner.
- Maybe someone will give me a smile. - What should I do then?
After we sweetened up our spirits with this treat,
it was time to REALLY boost our love fortune
so we could be super super lucky in loooove.
So we just had heart themed ice cream.
We have come to a famous shrine for Eien Musubi (Eternal connection)
- What did you just say? - Eien Musubi? (Eternal connection?)
- It's Enmusubi (Love Knot) - En Musubi!
Yes we want to be connected together forever...
It's still called ENMUSUBI (Love Knot).
Kuzuharaoka Shrine is famous for it. Let's tie our love knots right!
Let's raise our love potential!
Let's get those love vibes going.
Kuzuharaoka Shrine is located inside a beautiful forest.
This shrine is said to bring lovers together and helps in love and relationships.
There are two sacred stones.
ONAISHI, the lady stone.
And OTOKOISHI the Gent stone.
Visitors come here to tie red string with a lucky 5 Yen coin to it.
as those stones are said to bring you love.
There they are.
Already so many people have tied their ropes to it...
The right one is the Male stone and the left one the Female stone.
Women are supposed to tie their ribbon to the Gent stone.
We got our 5 yen coins ready.
Let's knot them up!
Let's do this.
The space is already stuffed with ribbons.
Its hard to find space here... I think there is some here.
Pull it tight.
I made that knot real tight.
So he won't be able to run away!
So Cathy this is your turn.
Let's do it.
Maybe around here?
- This is difficult. - Right? Harder than I thought.
It symbolizes how hard it is to actually tie a love knot in life.
It's a difficult thing.
There we go.
- Please help us out. - Please help.
This shrine also features special heart shaped wishing plates called EMA
... on which people write their wishes for love. We gave it a try.
Done.
- Finished writing our wish. - Yes we did.
Ta-da.
From me: CATHY To: MY DESTINY
"Let's be happy together, connected in love, and travel a lot together."
I love traveling, would be nice to find someone to travel with me.
So Natchan what did you write?
From me: ASO NATSUKO To: The prince I have yet to meet.
Have the person I like, like me back in return, and propose to me before 2020.
In 2020 I will turn 30 years old.
So I wish to marry before I turn 30.
That's a specific goal of mine.
So I wanted to specifically write that he needs to propose to me too.
Let's tie those to the wishing plate board.
I really really hope with this our wishes will come true.
I think we sorted out our wish for love here.
But there is one more thing we want right?
That one right!
This hand gesture is Japanese, other people might not understand it.
This symbol means money.
I moved house in Japan and that is a very expensive investment...
That's a really real fact right there. - It is.
In that case let's raise our money stats!
Natchans and Cathy's journey continues in a quick moment but...
Let's take a quick break to ask people in Tokyo about visiting shrines and temples.
When do you actually go to visit shrines and temples in Japan?
I personally only go on New Years day.
I buy myself a fortune slip, give a monetary offering and make a prayer.
I love taking pictures, so I go there to take pictures.
Do you upload them on Instagram?
That's what I do.
I go to shrines on New Years day.
What do you generally do?
I pray "I will try my best in the New Year, please make my wishes come true."
When I was in Highschool I would go to pray that I pass the university entrance exams.
Do you have a shrine you can recommend to everyone?
I always go to Mishima Taisha.
There is a large pond that you walk past
I think that place is very beautiful.
I traveled to Kamakura the other day.
We went to see Ofuna Kannon
You walk up super long stairs....
It's very beautiful so it was worth seeing.
What was the one... Dojoji
Where is it?
It's near Tokyo Tower.
Behind the temple, you can see the Tokyo Tower.
That sounds very picturesque.
It is.
Those were my questions, thank you.
Let's continue with ZENI ARAI BENZAITEN
Ugafuku Shrine.
If you have love AND money, life should be pretty perfect, right?
Fair point. Let's go.
This shrine is supposed to help you with your financial fortune and money issues.
and it is quite famous for that.
So what do you have to do here to raise your financial fortune?
The answer is money laundry.
Here you come and wash your money to raise your money fortune.
The money I have on me now? - Yes.
- Ok let's try it. - Let's try it.
People have literally been washing their money here for over 750 years.
It is literally money laundry.
People enter this cave in order to cleanse and purify their money.
The money you washed, you're not supposed to spend normally.
So you need to keep it? - That's it.
We generally don't cleanse money so...
It's super sparkly now.
Yes it looks nice now.
That feels good.
This 100 yen piece will now be like a talisman.
Ok let's take good care of it.
Feels good right?
Money come over.
Here you can wash not only money but also other things that relate to it.
like wallets, bills or even lottery tickets.
But make sure you don't spend your purified money on the next best thing.
This is our final place. The Sasuke Inari Shrine.
Doesn't this gate look wonderful?
Is Sasuke Inari connected to the famous Fushimi Inari in Kyoto?
Yes, it's a branch.
A shrine branch!
Let's goooo
I haven't been to the Kyoto Inari shrine yet.
I have actually.
So this is the first time I have seen so many red torii gates.
Isn't it fascinating?
A lot of foreign travelers like these for taking pictures
and posting them on Instagram and such.
It's a big trend now. - I have seen many of those.
You see them a lot but still they look fascinating, right?
Very photogenic.
They are beautiful. Some are new too.
This feels like a place of miracles.
Sasuke Inari is famous for the fox deity guarding this place.
There are hundreds of Japanese torii gates (combined)
and this place has a simply fascinating atmosphere about it
that will fascinate you just as much as it fascinated us.
Wow! This is amazing right from the start. - And super cute.
There are small and large foxes.
So many! That's amazing.
There are sooo many fox statues. Guess how many of them have been placed here
by visitors?
Those little ones, how many of those do you have here?
Have you already been up at the main part of the shrine?
There are about 6000 of them.
And then over there are 1500 up to 2000
Then on the sides more are lining up.
So maybe about 500 over there.
So around 10,000 in total.
So people who came to pray buy and leave them here?
The visitors pray that their wishes come true.
People who come here to say thanks for granted wishes leave them here.
They leave another prayer and the statues here.
It's to express their gratitude.
Can people take them home too?
10-20 percent take them home.
But people do that.
And they pray again. - Yes.
This place felt really special, and I felt really moved just being in this place.
It's hard to describe in words.
But it made me understand why Japanese people believe
that something sacred resides in this place.
I couldn't help but feel the same.
So many things happened in one day.
I have the feeling I might be alright from now on. Good things shall happen.
It was really cloudy at the start.
I was worried if our shoot will be alright
but exactly this kind of weather is really a good match for Kamakura.
It seems like it works well.
It has a really mysterious feel to it.
I feel that too.
Especially here at Sasuke Shrine I feel a lot of power from it.
It really is a good power spot for everyone.
When you come to Japan, be sure to visit Kamakura
and go to visit many shrines and temples.
Yes, good things shall happen to you and to us as well.
Yes please!
See you soon!