[TOKYO, JAPAN]: Top 3 Shrines for career, health and love: Kameidoten Shrine, Matsuchiyama Shoten, Imado Shrine

If I had one word to describe Tokyo, it would be the word "Transient".

It's a clash between modern otaku technology vs. conventional Bushido traditions.

It's probably my 5th time to Tokyo, but I can never run out of places to go to, a new restaurant, a local art gallery, a shrine in Wisteria season. Opportunities abound.

Sakura (Cherry Blossom season) is the big flower season around end of March to early April, but if you are visiting in May, there's always the Wisteria.

The Kameidoten Shrine, is a popular Tenji shrine that Japanese people go to to pray for academic successes and happiness. It is famous for it's red arched bridge and a garden full of plum flowers (End of January to February) and wisteria (End of April to June).

Taking a slow stroll around the quiet neighborhood of Sumida park.

This is one of those temples that don't come up in guidebooks, the Matsuchiyama Shoden Temple.

The legend goes that one day in year 595, the Matsuchiyama mountain suddenly appeared and it has been considered as a sacred spot since then. It also appears in many Ukiyo-e prints and poems during the Edo period (so the temple has been around for 1400 years...) for its beautiful mountain view.

There are a lot of Daikon (Radish) and money bag motifs in and around the temple, which symbolizes career success and family harmony. What I love about this place is that it is not crowded with tourists, and you can really immerse in this quiet sanctuary.

Imado Shrine - to love
This is considered one of the top 5 matchmaking shrines in Japan, and what's cute about it is that although the original deities worshipped are Emperor Ojin, Izanagi-no-mikoto, and Izanami-no-mikoto, the welcome cats "Maneki-Neko" became more popular than the actual deities, and were said to be given power for match making.

There is a legend too that during the Edo period, an old grandma had a cat, but due to financial reasons, she had to let it go. One day she had a dream of the cat, which said "Ask the potter to create a statue of me, and good fortune will come". This is also the place where Imado pottery came to birth, and obviously the cat won its respect from tourists all over the world to come pray for love and marriage.