Unfortunately, the main building was hidden under scaffolding 
undergoing renovations. The pictures here are the entrance to the temple. There weren't many people around when we arrived so we just wandered until we could find a way into a building. We didn't know the protocol of removing our shoes and David had fallen asleep in the stroller. Some of the groundskeepers were mortified to find us walking on the wood floors with our shoes on and the stroller on the grounds as well. Since David was asleep, we took turns looking into one of the larger halls. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but there were large altar like areas and pictures of Buddha. Honganji is a temple built for the Jodo Shin-shu school of Buddhism, competition for the Nishi (West) Honganji Temple we saw next. The temple was built in 1602, but the current shoes and structures were 
rebuilt in 1895 after a large fire. Before entering a temple or a shrine, you are supposed to purify yourself with water from the trough out front. You take a long handled ladle, wash out both hands and then rinse out your mouth. We didn't figure this out until the next day. The dragon fountain is the water trough for this temple.What better to do after seeing the East temple, but to check out the West temple.
We arrived 
after about a 10 minute walk. David fell asleep along the way, and missed the whole thing. We took turns removing our shoes, viewing the inside, and watching David while he slept in his stroller outside in the courtyard. We were able to get some pictures inside 
this temple. Perhaps their Buddha is less formal. This temple is the headquarters of the Hongangi branch of the Jodo Shinshu school with 12 million followers world-wide. Most of the congregation was not present. You can see the moat around the temple as well as the altar areas inside. People would just sit on the floor to pray or pay their respects.
Since David took a good nap, we had the opportunity to eat lunch at a French restaurant nearby called Le Bouchon. As far as we can determine, a "bouchon" could be the cork for a wine bottle, a traditional Lyonnaise restaurant, or a distinctively shaped chocolate. Although chicken Kiev (Russian?) at Le Bouchon (French restaurant?) in Kyoto (Japan) was one of the specials, we chose other options. One was an excellent fish with a name that means nothing to us and the other was duck in an orange sauce. Real orange wedges were involved in the sauce production, which made David's day as these are his favorite food. The owner was very gracious and spoke Japanese, French and English.
We arrived 
after about a 10 minute walk. David fell asleep along the way, and missed the whole thing. We took turns removing our shoes, viewing the inside, and watching David while he slept in his stroller outside in the courtyard. We were able to get some pictures inside 
this temple. Perhaps their Buddha is less formal. This temple is the headquarters of the Hongangi branch of the Jodo Shinshu school with 12 million followers world-wide. Most of the congregation was not present. You can see the moat around the temple as well as the altar areas inside. People would just sit on the floor to pray or pay their respects.Since David took a good nap, we had the opportunity to eat lunch at a French restaurant nearby called Le Bouchon. As far as we can determine, a "bouchon" could be the cork for a wine bottle, a traditional Lyonnaise restaurant, or a distinctively shaped chocolate. Although chicken Kiev (Russian?) at Le Bouchon (French restaurant?) in Kyoto (Japan) was one of the specials, we chose other options. One was an excellent fish with a name that means nothing to us and the other was duck in an orange sauce. Real orange wedges were involved in the sauce production, which made David's day as these are his favorite food. The owner was very gracious and spoke Japanese, French and English.
After lunch, we thought a quick stroll up to see the Imperial Palace would be a good plan. We found a small, random Shinto shrine along the way and enjoyed looking at the shops. After about a 15 minute walk, we arrived at the entrance to the Imperial Palace Park surrounding the palace. Unfortunately, this park was paved with loose gravel designed to completely impede the progress of our stroller. The park itself was more suited to playing baseball or football than sightseeing. As we were not well equipped for sports, the next plan was to walk around the park on the sidewalk until we were near the temple. After about 30 minutes of walking, we weren't even halfway. One inch on the map was much farther than expected. 
We did see a 
Japanese Episcopal Church (an interesting contrast to the Buddhist temples), and promptly took the subway home. David enjoy his subway ride and practiced his pullups. We tried a local conveyor sushi restaurant for dinner. It was fun and the sushi was remarkably fresh. It was the easiest option with David. There were some extremely good fresh fish choices and some other much less recognizable options. We decided to leave most of those for the locals. By the way, octopus is very similar in consistency to an inner tube. We recommend taking the time to cook it.
By now, we were all tired and in much need of sleep in preparation for the next day's adventures. 
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