Initially, we only planned to go to the Gokokuji temple to visit an antique market. It is located near Ikebukero and we had been there before, but the last time everybody was already packing their stuff. This time we were quite on time, but the announced "100 dealers" turned out to be only about 20. So when we were finished in about 30 minutes and looked around the shrine for 15 minutes, we still had plenty of time to go somewhere else.

We decided to go to the "Junk Show" at the Science Museum at the Kitanomarukoen near the Imperial Palace. We didn't know what to expect but decided that "junk" was probably a wrongly used word by the Japanese organizers. The show required an entrance fee and was not a 'show' at all. There were about 70 dealers that had all sorts of stuff; not exactly what you would find at an antique market, but more daily use items and toys. Most of the time you could reminisce about the past at the stalls. Those had toys like My Little Pony, Barbie and CareBears, while others had Tupperware, kitchen utensils of old and antique (American) restaurant items. You could find a lot of toys of the McDonald's children menu's as well. Although you could expect that it was all old and used, most of the items were still in their original package, sealed and unused. One of the stalls was run by a Belgian guy and had some Dutch material as well: stickers, children books and LP's.

After the Junk Show, we saw that in a hall across the T-shirts Love Summit was held. We decided to go there as well and found some 50 different t-shirt designers selling their latest designs. Some had really nice art, some should better not have come at all. There were designs for cat lovers, metal fans, anime otaku and geeks. Several had funny prints and a few had come up with interesting use of materials, e.g. plugging in your earphones at the front of your t-shirt or adding 3-d elements. We stopped at one that depicted a toothbrush with the tooth paste actually sticking out. People were touching it (of course) and the designer said it was made of some plastic that could withstand washing. The designer was fluent in English and said he had lived in Canada for many years. When he asked where we were from he was surprised by our answer and said "Ik spreek ook een beetje Nederlands" (I speak a little Dutch too). We had stumbled upon a Japanese guy who had lived in Holland in his childhood in the exact same neighbourhood and during the same years as Michelle had. With such coincidence, we decided to keep in touch and meet some other time.

When we walked through the park to the nearest station to go home, we saw three people with a measuring tape trying to determine the size of a large snake-like worm. They told us it was a Hammer head worm. It's a long worm of about 30 cm and, of course, has a head that looks like a hammer. It also has some hydra-capabilities since 'splitting' it in two will not kill it but generate two hammer head worms. Tora had 'met' one a few days earlier when he ran over one during the evening walk. They are very sticky and it was all over his leg and stomach. At that time we didn't know yet it was a Hammer Head worm, but apparently we didn't kill it when we tore it off him…

Near the station we saw that a matsuri (festival) was going on at the Yasukuni shrine. It turned out to be the largest matsuri we had ever seen! This Mitama Matsuri is the first of the o-bon festivals of the season and with several hundred food stalls (normally there are only 30 or so), a haunted house, a freak show and game stalls, there was enough to be seen. The several hundred thousands visiting in the four days it lasted, agreed with us. There were many kimonos to be seen since most girls had dressed up for this.

We've been to several matsuri before, but never to a freak show. Although it started nice, it ended a bit gruesome. Inside there was a podium and several performers passed by. Girls in short skirts doing a silly dance, the 'strong woman' who looked like a child but was convincingly lifting some fake rocks and of course the ample-bosomed woman that kept stroking her football sized breasts lovingly (she was decently dressed of course). Another one 'ate' a cylinder balloon of a meter. All in all, comical situations brought very friendly. The last act was more serious (and gross). It started with a woman who let candles drip hot wax in her mouth and then blew a fireball. It ended bad however when she bit the head of a snake and drank its blood. Not the ending we expected, nor liked.

We also went to the haunted house. In Holland you get in a cart that rides on a rail and goes through with fully automated scenery. Here we walked through it and everything was done by hand. People were dressed up with masks and fluorescent ink and the ghosts that flew by were manually operated with a trolley. Children found it scary enough though, one was crying full on! It felt a bit rural and old, but still very nice.

Around and in the shrine 30.000 yellow lanterns were placed to bid farewell to the ancestors. Although we would have liked to see it in the dark, that would be two hours of waiting so we didn't. At the side of the shrine, we saw the mikoshi standing ready. This is a gold-lacquered divine palanquin that looks like a miniature building. Normally it is kept behind glass or inside a building, but this time we could take pictures up close. It is carried around during a procession and already there were guys gathering around it. We expected that they would start carrying the heavy palanquin soon. However, when they did, they only lifted it up and placed it on a transport cart. Modern technology meets old religion! They probably rolled it to the start of the parade.

We tried out some of the food stalls as well. Dennis had a curly potato on a stick, while Michelle took some cheese balls that had no cheese in them. The shaved ice with strawberry and milk taste was delicious in the summer heat!