Time Travel in Downtown Tokyo

In every city, there exist portals to another time for those who can find them. Tokyo has several. 

Atago Shrine is one such. I find it tucked not too far from downtown Tokyo, although a century away in the past. 81 steep steps to the shrine, as some suitclad young men eye me suspiciously, a mildly overweight Indian man solemnly soldiering up, and give me collective thumbs up when I look back panting from the top.

The shrine is an olden Japanese structure clad in old trees and a kind of hush, a sleepy cat lording over this shaded kingdom. (The priestesses of Bast, or perhaps the kin of Hello Kitty, are everywhere in Japan.)

Alongside the shrine is a pond rippling with huge well-fed red, orange and white fish, that swarm and fight like a pack of street dogs to earn scraps from the visitors.

I would love to spend an hour or two, but there's so much to see.

The gates of Atago Shrine

A peep down the stairs

The Fish Pond at Atago Shrine, Tokyo

The fish flock to the feeders