Kanda Shrine — Attraction in Tokyo

You know you’re in Tokyo when you end up praying for your tech devices to work. Visited this shrine last night, which is apparently the shrine for IT safety and electronic success. It’s like the Genius Bar, but with incense and about 1,300 years of credibility.

The shrine itself is stunning at night. The massive red gate lights up like it’s about to sell you a $5,000 GPU. Inside, you’ll find everything from traditional blessings to good luck charms for your laptop. Honestly, if my MacBook dies tomorrow, I’m blaming myself for not buying one.

There was a beautiful calm despite being minutes away from Akiba’s neon chaos. The atmosphere made me wonder: if gods exist, surely they’d appreciate a solid fibre connection and a reliable VPN.

Pro tip – if you’re lugging bags of anime merch, watch your knees on the stone steps. I nearly offered myself to the spirits after misjudging one. Also, keep an eye out for the ring of woven straw. Walk through it and you’re blessed, or cursed, or maybe both, depending on how many convenience store chu-hi’s you’ve had before visiting.

Overall, 5/5 for vibes, architecture, and existential tech support. Come for the spiritual grounding, stay for the free...

This was honestly one of the nicest surprises of my Akihabara trip. After hours surrounded by neon lights, loud arcades, and endless shops, walking up to Kanda Myojin Shrine felt like stepping into a completely different world. The change of pace was exactly what I needed.

The shrine itself is absolutely stunning — bright red gates, traditional wooden structures, and this calm, peaceful vibe that just makes you want to slow down and take a breath. Even better? It’s surprisingly connected to otaku culture in its own way. People hang ema (wooden plaques) here with anime drawings and prayers, which gives the whole place a fun, quirky twist while still feeling very spiritual and serene.

I spent a while just wandering around, soaking in the atmosphere. There’s also a little shop where you can buy charms — I grabbed one that supposedly protects electronics. Honestly, pretty useful given how many gadgets I bought on this trip!

If you want a break from the madness of Akihabara but don’t want to leave the area, this is the perfect escape. Peaceful, beautiful, and still very much tied to the local culture. I left feeling...

Beautiful shrine, this place has a great history to it, being one of the most important and powerful shrines of Tokyo since the Edo era. There is a new building, a museum that explains this in detail, and because of the location near Akihabara, there also anime themed emas (wooden amulets to write wishes and leave in the shrine). Like any shrine they sell a variety of amulets, luck charms, and emas unique to the shrine. On weekends they do wadaiko (traditional drums) performances. This is also a wedding venue, so if you're lucky you may spot a wedding in action! Remember, shrines cannot be entered. If you see people entering it is because they are attending a religious ceremony which are all appointment based. There is parking in the back and it is wheelchair friendly, toilets inside two of the buildings - not the shrine. Photos allowed.

The walk up to Kanda Myojin is always a fun treat. There are a lot of little stores, soba restaurants, cafes, but they are not usually opened on weekdays. There is a nato store on the bottom left where they sell amasake (sweet and warm sake) in the winter and also...