We were scouting in Tokyo (yeah I know, it's weird), and stopped at this Shinto shrine - a shrine dedicated to a Japanese Emperor and Empress built in 1920.
I was kind of looking at it from a physical point of view, but you couldn't help but get a little spiritual here.
It's got this giant gate, and a forest with trees shipped from all over the world, and as you get further back there's suddenly this place where you're supposed to wash your hands - you dip one of those ladles in the water and run it over each hand.
Then you go through another gate to get kind of in the middle of the thing.
So, this whole experience is steeped in tradition and culture, right? Next you go into another even more spiritual room where photography isn't allowed and you do this: put a coin in this water thingy, bow twice slowly, clap twice, say a prayer, bow once and back on out.
Unusual for a Westerner, but still kinda cool so I did it.
Then, you go in this next area where you can get these little flat pieces of wood with a little string attached, and the idea is to write your prayer on these things, hang it up, and maybe it'll get answered. There were literally thousands of prayers on these little hooks.
You can probably guess which one's mine.
All told about 15 minutes, and I may have just changed everyone's destiny.
Even the Yankees.
