Back in July I wrote about visiting Senso-ji Temple during Day 1 of our trip to Japan. Senso-ji is Tokyo’s oldest temple and was very busy with tourists. While we enjoyed seeing the temples, we found the people watching to be at its finest!
While walking in and around the temple grounds we came across a couple of odd signs. Since Kim and I do not speak or read Japanese we couldn’t figure out the exact meaning but we had some ideas.
In the first sign we spotted (just before entering the Senso-ji grounds & inside too), it appears that birds might be able to wash your shirts and clothes.
In the image it shows a bird with some rain drops or tears just below it. There is then a line with a few shirts hanging. I really do not get this sign. I’d like to think it is telling you to be careful and watch for birds pooping on you. However, if this was the case, why the tears? Shouldn’t the droppings be the appropriate color?
The next sign we saw had two images on it. The first one shows a bird flying with raindrops or tears once again being dropped. There is a small character (no clue what it is) holding what appears to be a bag and a girl looking up and crying. Her arm is above her head with something being in her hand. Maybe this part of the sign is trying to tell us not to feed the birds? The other part of the sign shows a bird standing with a worm inside it’s mouth.
My guess for this sign is- don’t feed the birds, birds eat worms.
I’d love to find out the meaning of each of these signs. If anybody out there speaks and reads Japanese, please help us!
(Not all photos will be featured but thanks in advance for sharing)Don’t forget to:
I don’t know why but that last picture made me laugh, I am going to send my friend over to this page and ask him to translate it 🙂
That would be awesome!
Here it is:
“please don’t give food to the birds. If you do, they’ll keep coming back every weeks and sit on balconies. As they sit, they’ll poo on things like hanging clothes, which is bad. Yes, the birds like it, but what’ll happen if we stop feeding them? They’ll rely on eating worms, bugs and other appropriate bird food. Please do your part to promote a healthy ecosystem”