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Ancient Japanese temple resorts to manga to woo visitors

Girls clad in maids’ outfits are not traditionally associated with Buddhism, but that has not stopped monks at a centuries-old temple using Japanese pop culture to woo visitors. The Ryohoji temple, built in the late 16th century in a Tokyo suburb, erected a colourful manga-inspired sign at its entrance in June and has since seen visitor numbers perk up - especially young men. But it went a step further at the weekend, setting up tents and opening up a temporary cafe staffed by bonnet-wearing girls sporting classic frills, one of the recent popular themes among fans of anime and costume role-playing. The ‘maids’ look authentic and old-fashioned in every way - save for the short length of the skirts and the fake cats’ ears on their heads. And it seemed to work, the temple drawing hundreds of visitors on Saturday as the event coincided with a local autumn festival in Hachioji, on the western outskirts of Tokyo. Adding to the spectacle, Toromi, a singer who drew the manga characters on the temple’s sign, was in a red-and-white costume inspired by a goddess worshipped at the temple. Ryohoji is also selling a 500-yen (five-dollar) card with cartoon characters which allows buyers to download three-minute motion pictures on to their mobile phones of chief monk Nakazato chanting prayers. afp

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