In the fall of 1988 I visited Tokyo for the first time and took a day tour by bus of the city’s famous sites  — so I am sure that I have been to Sensō-ji before.  It is after all the most- most- most-visited religious site in the world, with thirty million visitors per year. Alas, I don’t really have any proof that I was here then. I didn’t take any pictures, which is a little odd given my photographic proclivities. 

Perhaps even then I realized that, given that almost no part of the densely-historic complex survived the USAAF’s Operation Meetinghouse on March 10, 1945, Sensō-ji as it now exists — painted ferroconcrete and steel mimicking the flammable and firebombed original, the Kaminarimon’s giant chochin donated by Panasonic, the stalls along Nakamise-dōri dealing in matcha ice cream, reproduction samurai swords, and Godzilla-themed merchandise — is more Tomorrowland than Tokugawa, more Walt Disney than Bodhisattva Kannon.  

Or is that a correct assessment, after all? I have begun to believe that I was an insufferable purist when I was younger.

Because here I am again thirty-seven years later, early on a warm but overcast morning with a good proportion of this year’s thirty million, crowding my way to the temple through the grand Gates and past the Hokusai and Hello Kitty gewgaws. First full day in Tokyo, have to pay my respects to the Kannon. 

And then perhaps a hojicha latte as a refreshment?