Another ten minutes’ biking brings you to Ninnaji. It’s not entirely obvious that you are on the right road, although it’s hard not to be. You can’t miss this huge mon, though!

One of the homework assignments of the school kids is to speak in English to one of the gaijin. If the temple happens to be fairly empty, and you are wandering by yourself, you will probably get asked a few simple questions, and get to pose for a photo. If they ask where you are from, pick somewhere nearby that someone outside the U.S. is likely to know. Nobody has heard of “Austin,” for instance, but all of them knew “Texas.”