Doug, wondering what's up with all thousands of red-capped figurines piled up around the shrine. I asked a priest (handy around Buddhist temples) what they were for and even bought one. Was told that when a person had some misfortune or a family member was sick you could offer these little buddhas as a charm to reverse your fortunes. Later, one of my students informed me that in fact, these charms were left there by repentant women who'd had abortions....