Konnyaku Emma

Konnyaku is jelly-like food made from the starch of devil's tongue (Konnyaku flour).
Emma is the king of hell who judges sins of dead people in Buddhism.

Genkakuji Temple is called Konnyaku Emma.
This temple was established in 1624.

There's an Emma statue here and his right eye is dark yellow.

Here's the story.

An old woman in 18th century had problems with her eyes.
She prayed for recovery every day at this temple.
One night, Emma showed up in her dream and told her that he'd give her one of his eyes.
Then her eye recovered but Emma's right eye turned to dark yellow.

She showed her appreciation by dedicating her favorite Konnyaku to Emma instead of eating it.

Also, this temple has unique Shio Jizo which is covered by salt.

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<The Nearest Station>

Kasuga station on Mita Line / Oedo Line (I12/E07/Toei Subway)

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Dentsu-in Temple

Dentsu-in Temple was opened in 1415.

It's named Dentsu-in after the first Tokugawa Shogun Ieyasu's mother after her grave was set in 1602. Prince Senhime's grave is here, too. She's a daughter of the second Shogun Hidetada and also wife of Tokugawa's enemy Hideyori Toyotomi.

It's counted as one of three Shogun family's temples with Zojoji Temple and Kaneiji Temple.
There's no Shogun's graves here but many women and children's graves are here.

This temple is known as the place where a radical Sumurai team was organized.

This group became Shinsengumi, unofficial police in Kyoto at the end of Edo era.

This temple was written in many novels especially in Meiji era.

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<The Nearest Station>

Kasuga station on Mita Line / Oedo Line (I12/E07/Toei Subway)

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Zenkoji Temple

The most famous Zenkoji Temple is one in Nagano prefecture.
This is the one in Tokyo which is a branch of one in Nagano.

This temple started as a part of Dentsu-in Temple near here in 1602.
Name was changed to Zenkoji Temple as a branch in 1884.

There's another temple next to Zenkoji.
It's Jigan-in Takuzosu Inari Temple which deifies Takuzosu, a priest of Dentsu-in who was a god.
There's an Aphananthe oriental elm tree on the street. It's told the spirit of Takuzosu is in this tree.

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<The Nearest Station>

Kasuga station on Mita Line / Oedo Line (I12/E07/Toei Subway)

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LaQua City

LaQua City is Tokyo Dome city which many has shops and restaurants and amusement park in the middle of urban Tokyo. Roller coaster, Ferris wheel, Water slider, Merry-go-round etc. are right at the road and shopping mall.

In LaQua building, other attractions like TenQ (Advanced planetarium) and all night Spa are available.

Illuminations in LaQua City are beautiful, too.

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<The Nearest Station>

Kasuga station on Mita Line / Oed Line (I12/E07/Toei Subway)
Korakuen station of Marunouchi Line / Namboku Line
(M22/N11/Tokyo Metro)

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Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is located at Tokyo Dome Baseball Stadium.
There're many items used by star players like Sadaharu Oh who's the home-run king with 868 home-runs in his carrier.

Besides professional  baseball, there're corners about high school baseball, collage baseball, amateur baseball and women's baseball. Also, exhibitions about history of baseball and international baseball games are interesting.

You can enjoy many screens with historical motion pictures.
Kids may like virtual pitching machine which you can select from professional pitchers.

Baseball Hall of Fame is much bigger than Football Hall of Fame.

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<The Nearest Station>

Kasuga station on Mita Line / Oed Line (I12/E07/Toei Subway)
Korakuen station of Marunouchi Line / Namboku Line
(M22/N11/Tokyo Metro)

<Admission>

600 yen

Mar. through Oct. : 10:00-18:00
Nov. through Feb. : 10:00-17:00

Closed on Mondays and Dec. 29th - Jan. 1
Open if baseball game is held at Tokyo Dome

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Bunkyo Civic Center

Metropolitan Tokyo consists of 23 cities.
Bunkyo is one of them and its Civic Center has a nice observatory.

If you see West, you can see Shinjuku skyscrapers and Mt.Fuji may be visible behind the buildings when sky is clear.
The title picture of this blog was taken from here.

If you see East, you can see Tokyo Skytree in the wide open space.
There're a few high-rise buildings in this direction.

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<The Nearest Station>

Kasuga station on Mita Line / Oed Line (I12/E07/Toei Subway)
Korakuen station of Marunouchi Line / Namboku Line
(M22/N11/Tokyo Metro)

<Admission>

Free of Charge

9:00-20:30

Closed on Dec. 29th - Jan. 3 and the Third Sunday in May

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The neighbor is LaQua City which has Spa, Shopping mall, Restaurants and Attractions like roller coasters.
There's a Tokyo Dome baseball stadium, too.
If you are a baseball fan, The Baseball Museum is a good place to stop by.

Bunkyo Civic Center

Mt.Fuji & Shinjuku

Tokyo Skytree