image: Masaomi
“I saw them drawing bamboo sticks from a silver rectangular box.”
I watched the Japanese waving incense smoke on their faces, ringing the temple bell, tossing coins in the wooden chest, clapping their hands twice. Then I saw them drawing bamboo sticks from a silver rectangular box. What was that all about?
I looked around for someone likely to speak English and approached a young man in a T-shirt with a backpack slung over one shoulder. He looked like a university student. He told me that the sticks were a sort of sacred lottery where people could find out about their future through a message from the gods. I paid my ¥100, drew out my bamboo straw, then went to the drawer designated on the straw to find my fortune, which was written on a small strip of paper [1]. The young man translated it for me.
He told me that all my dreams will come true, that I will have children, and if I study, I will pass the entrance exams. He went on to say that I will have a boyfriend if I’m not too demanding. I frowned, which did not go unnoticed by my translator. Four of the predictions had already happened. What about the fifth? Will my dreams really come true?
He then said in halting but good English that if I considered my lot in life a misfortune, I should tie the paper to a tree [2] so that bad luck wouldn’t follow me home.
That’s OK, I replied, there was nothing in it that was unfortunate; only that I could dream of winning the jumbo lottery. Do you think that will come true? I asked.
He gave me a broad smile before turning to go. I could hear him chuckling as he walked away.
As I watched his receding back, I wondered if most Japanese believe in these messages from their gods. 
referenced works
- These strips of paper, which are found at both Bhuddhist temples and Shinto shrines, are called "omikuji." ↩
- In the film "Lost in Translation," this is what the character Charlotte does while visiting a Kyoto temple. ↩
location information
- Name: Asakusa Temple
- Address: Taito-ku Asakusa 2-3-1
- Time of story: early morning
- Latitude: 35.714501
- Longitude: 139.796718
- Map: Google Maps
033 “Dewy eyes closed, her porcelain arms and legs splayed attractively”
032 “The ika had made too many turns.”
031 “A tongue was moving around my big toe, like a warm slug crawling. ”
030 “Ichor will gush out of this carefully constructed image”
029 “I wince, more than her.”
028 “Their schoolbags were puddled around their socks, forgotten”
027 “Amongst the bottles and the obscure records and the crimson velvet walls”
026 “Nostalgia isn’t an easy indulgence for amateurs”
025 “... but anyway please take one of these little cheese cakes ...”
024 “The inhabitants of the blue, makeshift tents in the bushes.”
023 “Yeah … I’m sorry too. Merry Christmas.”
022 “I was dead broke. It was winter.”
021 “The district's energy had faded to rest on my last night there.”
020 “The slightly bald salaryman didn't correspond to any memory I could conjure up.”
019 “She laughed at my effort and responded in English, ‘Long time, no seduction.’ ”
018 “In my dreamy state, oblivious to signs and announcements I often boarded the wrong train.”
017 “I was fifteen years old and it was one of those nights.”
016 “That ear of corn just wanted to go home”
015 “With his painstakingly coiffured mane blowing in the wind”
014 “Her voice, even across languages, betraying her worry.”
013 “I saw them drawing bamboo sticks from a silver rectangular box.”
012 “A simulacrum of someone else's home, equal parts comfort and loss.”
011 “Jumbled Escheresque insanity where geography in any traditional sense ceases to exist.”
010 “I could hardly make out anything apart from his glowing eyes...”
009 “Shibuya was like a stroke.”
008 “I cried for a while and wiped the dead bracken off my karate pants.”
007 “Both my tie and my disposition hang limp as I calculate the remaining distance to the station.”
006 “I once read about a Chinese maiden whose feet were unbound by a cruel man …”
005 “The Bad Girl strutted off and I was left with a ham egg pie.”
004 “I arrived expecting an irritated Japanese person to step out of the crowd and identify himself as Hideki.”
003 “The woman at the ticket window seemed surprised to see another human being. I was the only visitor.”
002 “Flanked on either side by adult manga shops and the like, the smell of yakitori in the air.”
001 “For two weeks the day began with this morning walk, our shared routine.”
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commentary
http://yawandmog.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/the-sacred-lottery-of-life/