Now, you don’t have to travel all the way to Japan to have an Instagram photo of you walking through the red Torii Gate at the Sankoinari Shrine in Inuyama. Why you ask? Because a local version of the red torii gate can now be found outside the E Nihon Mono Store (formerly Pino Filipino Restaurant) in Lahug, Cebu City.
You read that right. There is a new ‘very Intagrammable’ spot in Cebu that is currently breaking the local Internet. This spot transports visitors to a different country (Japan, to be specific) even without actually leaving the city! I am talking about the red Torii Gate in Lahug.
The red torii gate is situated in front of the E-Nihon Mono building in Lahug. If you’re wondering why the building looks very familiar, that’s because you have actually seen the building in the past. This exact same building was once occupied by the famous Pino Filipino Restaurant. When Pino disappeared, the place was vacant for a while until renovation work was done for a new locator. Today, the structure is occupied by the E-Nihon Mono, a store which sells different high-quality items from Japan.
Let’s take a closer look at the torii gate which now stands in front of the store:
The structure was built in front of the old Pino Restaurant in Lahug.
According to Wikipedia, a torii, which literally means bird abode, Japanese is a traditional Japanese gate which can usually be found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine. The gate symbolizes the transition “from the mundane to the sacred.”
The structures are perfectly aligned making the whole thing visually-appealing.
Here is a view of the gate (from the side) and the Yello Hotel right next to it.
The main building was once occupied by the very popular Pino Filipino Restaurant.
If you’re still not sure where this is, the photo below will tell you its exact location. Notice that big building with green glass windows in the back? That’s the JY Square building in Lahug.
Here are some of the details of this new visually-stunning project. Take a look!
Several sculptures of animals wearing straw hats can also be seen around the gate.
And here is one last look at Cebu City’s very own red torii gate.
So what do you think about the red torii gate in Cebu? Do you think they did a good job with this project? Would you like to give the spot a visit one of these days? Let us know in the comment section below!
