Hopefully someone can translate the sign and/or Kogasauthor puts up some clearer images of it.

That huge tongue made me giggle.

I think we can all guess what his prayer is about, yes?

auton_merlin said:
Hopefully someone can translate the sign and/or Kogasauthor puts up some clearer images of it.

I had to find a photo of it online (plus I had to do something else at the same time), or else I'd have completed this a little faster. His handwritten transcription is decently legible, but I wanted to be sure of accuracy too.

The Buddha statue itself has been around for ages, apparently, but the worshipping method gave the impression of something like "ehōmaki". (^^;) Even so, you've got to do what's there properly!

And thus did I end up seeing all there is to see at Suwa.

At this point, it was past 5 p.m., and the sky was starting to get dark. Going around the four shrine complexes, the time was gone before we knew it. Of course, we had plenty of stopovers! :-)

Reader-added tags include "Believers become gag material", "Stopover (i.e., soba shop)", and "Naturally, your wish is to be blessed with children, right, Kogasa-san?"

The survey prays for information:

What should I wish?
• I want go to the 2nd dimension
• I want to go to Gensokyo
• I want to become a girl
• I want to become a boy
• I pray to be selected for Comiket

The survey prays for information:

What should I wish?
• I pray to be selected for Comiket

Every. Artist's. Dream.

Granted, you'd still need the skills to live up to being selected otherwise you won't be much of a presence there anyway.

• I want to go to Gensokyo

Every.Fans.Dream.EVER!!

/\/\ao said:
Every.Fans.Dream.EVER!!

Probably don't want to live there though. Seems like an overall boring place unless you have a job or an incident occurs. (I wouldn't mind staying if I worked at eientei with Reisen ^^).

Put a funny hat on it

79248cm/s said:
Probably don't want to live there though. Seems like an overall boring place unless you have a job or an incident occurs. (I wouldn't mind staying if I worked at eientei with Reisen ^^).

I actually am inclined to agree on this, despite being something we all want, I bet after a month or so when we become accustomed to the place, we'll just find it very monotonous, lacking any kind of real modern entertainment. Also, you'd have to be incredibly skillful or powerful to venture places you wanted to see, you'd probably make lots of enemies though.

Oh and not to mention, Yukari will almost certainly keep an eye on you at all times, what with being an outsider and all along with also having some knowledge she might not like us sharing.

Kogasa-san sure is taking this seriously, isn't she? I guess she really wants to have a healthy baby in the near future. I wonder if the group will make one more food stop before the journey is over?

For the poll, I want to go to Gensokyo! I can work on my other wishes while I'm there.

Kumihou said:
I actually am inclined to agree on this, despite being something we all want, I bet after a month or so when we become accustomed to the place, we'll just find it very monotonous, lacking any kind of real modern entertainment. Also, you'd have to be incredibly skillful or powerful to venture places you wanted to see, you'd probably make lots of enemies though.

Oh and not to mention, Yukari will almost certainly keep an eye on you at all times, what with being an outsider and all along with also having some knowledge she might not like us sharing.

Would we really be accustomed? Gensokyo is not only extremely steeped in Japanese culture, but is technologically behind in most ways by over 100 years. Even for a modern Japanese person, born in and familiar with Japanese culture and mythology, it seems like it'd be a tough place. How much harder then would it be for us who are not Japanese and come from entirely different cultures. Gensokyo may have some Western stuff in it, with people or groups like the SDM, Yukari (and possibly Ran and Chen), the Moriyas, Shikieiki and Komachi, and probably Eientei being the most familiar with it, but other than them I suspect anything Western would be alien to people in Gensokyo. It doesn't strike me as a cosmopolitan place.

Then there's the fact that there is a over 100 year difference, probably even more, in Gensokyo's culture and Japan's culture. Going back only 50 years in our own countries, it'd probably be like stepping into another country and culture. 50 years ago in the United States, minorities had no real rights that were enforced with unofficial and official racism abounding everywhere, North or South. Social Security was still in its infancy, medical science was still primitive, and people smoked everywhere. And that's the country I'm a native of, and thus would be the most familiar with. Our lives and the values we grew up with are immensely different from anything 50 years ago, let alone a foreign culture 100 years behind the world.

Frankly I think I would do terribly there because I'm not Japanese. I'm an American, immersed in the mythology and shared culture of the "Western World" and that culture was shaped by myths and legends from Europe and the Middle East. I don't think I could ever fit or assimilate into Gensokyo because honestly I don't have the skills, mindset, or culture to feel kinship or understand it. Maybe if I did get into a relationship with someone from there, it could ease these issues, but I suspect there'd still be a lot of learning to go through. And even then who's to say I'd be accepted by most others? Modern-day Japan, a first world country with a high standard of living, is very rigid about its culture and how outsiders fit in. How much worse would it be in Gensokyo?

TLDR: I suspect I would feel like a stranger in a strange land.

For the poll, well, any of that could work. Could.

What should I wish?
• I want to go to Gensokyo
• I want to become a girl

God, hard decision. Probably gensokyo for me.

aListers said:
God, hard decision. Probably gensokyo for me.

I thought it out, and made it easy!
1. Go to Gensokyo
2. Befriend Yukari
3. Ask her to play with the gender barrier
4. ???
5. Profit!

Genichiro said:
I thought it out, and made it easy!
1. Go to Gensokyo
2. Befriend Yukari
3. Ask her to play with the gender barrier
4. ???
5. Profit!

well really if you follow fanon, going to gensokyo would automatically make you a girl.

IsaacWinds said:
well really if you follow fanon, going to gensokyo would automatically make you a girl.

Aren't there men in the various villages? And how come Rinnosuke didn't turn into a girl?

warellis said:
Aren't there men in the various villages? And how come Rinnosuke didn't turn into a girl?

Well he was talking about Fanon. ZUN himself already says the only reason he doesn't write about more male characters other than Rinnosuke is because they aren't any fun to write about. There are probably other semi-important male characters ZUN only knows and he just figures none of them are important to show off.

Pool said:
What should I wish?
• I want to go to Gensokyo

79248cm/s said:
Probably don't want to live there though. Seems like an overall boring place unless you have a job or an incident occurs. (I wouldn't mind staying if I worked at Eientei with Reisen ^^).

warellis said:
TLDR: I suspect I would feel like a stranger in a strange land.

Pretty much the entire summary of the situation I'd be in if I want to live in Gensokyo, but I'll get used to it if given time and space to adjust myself with the new environment.

1Kero2Kero said:
Put a funny hat on it

It's all Alice's fault!