I've always wanted to visit Japan, and in May 2013 I finally fulfilled this lifelong dream. It was an amazing trip, and I don't regret spending over $2000 to finance it. This was the best vacation I've ever had in my life, and it was worth every penny.

As for how this relates to furries, what you see a picture of here is the entrance way to the Gojo Tenjin Shrine in Ueno Park in Tokyo. I must admit I don't know much about the symbolism of Shinto, but from what I have researched this is a shrine to Inari, the god of rice. Foxes are Inari's messengers, and little fox statues can be found throughout the temple as guardians.

Fun fact: a similar shrine in Kyoto, Japan inspired Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to make a fox the hero of his new shooting game Star Fox in the year 1992. Similar arches to the ones you see here also inspired the design decision of putting arches in an early level for the player to fly underneath, in order to collect powerups. The symbols you see on each post are supposed to be a stamp of goodwill.


I'll put up some more pictures in a moment.