Venturing Out

I was informed recently that all I have posted on my trip to Japan so far were photos of toilets and my underwear. Hey, at least they were clean. Hee. Now I know there is more to Japan than their heated toilet seats and their impeccable laundry service, but for me, it is all part of the unique cultural experience I am having here.... so I post about it. Plus, I haven't gotten out of the hotel much due to long work hours and recovering from jet lag.

But, this past weekend, I headed out of Yokohama and braved the Tokyo subways. First stop was the Harajuku area and a visit to the Meiji-Jingu Shrine, the largest Shinto shrine in the country. Emporer Meiji (reign was 1868-1912) was the Japanese Emperor credited with Japan's modernisation and this temple was errected in honor of him and his wife, Empress Shoken. You enter the Shrine through the 36 foot high torii (gate), also the largest in Japan. The Shrine was re-built in 1958 after being destroyed during WWII. It is beautiful, but subdued.

The Shrine is also a very popular place for Shinto weddings as I soon found out. While I was there, there was one wedding group getting there photos taken, another wedding group in the midst of their ceremony, and several other groups waiting in the wings for their ceremony to begin. It was weird watching the ceremonys as you feel a bit like you are intruding on their special day; However, just like in the States, if you hold such an event in a popular tourist attraction, your gonna have to expect the gawkers and the photographers clicking away.

The bridal outfits were amazing, especially the brides hair which was dressed up in traditional Japaneses fashion. I couldn't tell you much else about the weddings other than they seemed like such serious events with very few smiles and very little of that party attitude you see at American weddings. Maybe that just comes later at the reception (if they even hold a reception... I have no idea).

After visiting the Meiji-Sjingu Shrine, I headed out of the park directly onto the Omotosando.... one of the few tree-lined streets and a swanky shopping district in Tokyo. I skipped all the stores like the GAP that I could easily find in the US and instead headed to the 6-level Kiddyland. This is one of the most popular toy stores in Japan and had an amazing assortment of insteresting toys and gadgets. I also stopped in at the Oriental Bazzar, which has many of the normal Japanese touristy items for sale including kimonos, fans, sake sets, etc....

After that, I was pretty exhausted, so I headed back to the train station to make my way home. I did make a train transfer at Shibuya and while there, headed out to the famous Hachiko crossing, the world's busiest pedestrian crossing. You have probably seen this crossing before in many movies and photos. It's like the Times Square of Tokyo. Every three minutes, a mass of people head in all directions across the intersection. I gather it is even more impressive at night, so I am trying to plan a trip there one night after work to get some photos of the crossing with all the neon, videos, and people.

About a 20 minute train ride and I was back at the hotel, thoroughly exhausted and physically tired. You forget how all the travel, noise, walking, and shopping wears you out, but I was glad to get out of the hotel area and explore a little bit.

You can see all my Japan photos so far at my Smugmug Site.