I hope the barrage of Kitakyushu Strange isn’t getting tiresome, because they’re easy to write and I haven’t had a lot of time lately.

Welcome to another neighbourhood temple, this time in the Showa-machi (昭和町) area of Yahata Higashi-ku. It’s within walking distance of my school, and is home to a 2-storey bell tower complete with pigeon-resistant green netting. I found the place on an overcast day in late January this year, while I was out wandering around on my lunch break. There I encountered a down-on-his-luck otherworldly hero moonlighting as a security guard.

I’m not sure of the name of this temple—I don’t remember the exact location and there are two temples close to each other on my map—but I’ll probably go back some time in the next few weeks to find out for sure. And to take more pictures, since I had poor light and very little time the day I went there.

Why would an otherwise unremarkable place of worship be chosen as a topic for Kitakyushu Strange? Let’s have a look around the temple grounds.

Traditional wooden structure? Check. Copper bell hanging from a beam? Check. Assorted bicycles in the courtyard? Check. Motor scooter? Check. Six-foot-tall Ultraman figure with fist-sized hole in left thigh? Strange.