This couple are receiving their cups of sake from the shrine maiden who is hidden behind them.

 We moved over to the other side (left) of the main shrine and purchased our fortunes for the year. A tall octagonal wooden box has a small hole in the top and you shake it until a bamboo stick comes out. The stick has a number written on it and that number refers to a shelf in a large box behind the counter. The shrine maiden takes a packet of paper out of the place that corresponds to the number that you got. The above picture shows what the paper looks like when it is unfolded. It gives your fortune in various areas, such as love, business, education, etc. My overall fortune was the lowest level of good. After you read it, you fold it lengthwise a number of times and then tie it to a tree in front of the main shrine building. This is so the gods will remember, if it is good, and maybe change their minds, if it is bad.

 The tree, here actually some bamboo branches tied to a stake in the ground, looks like it is a tree in bloom, maybe a spring cherry tree.

 This is what it looks like up close.

 As we were leaving the temple grounds, we had to pass a long line of people waiting to pay their respects.

 We walked to Izumi Chuo to have lunch and do some shopping. I noticed that a space that had been a paved parking lot for a couple of years was now a construction site.

This is the display outside an Italian restaurant that I eat at quite often. My wife and I decided not to eat there and moved down the hall a ways to a noodle shop instead.