Meiji jingu shrine
Meiji jingu is a Shinto shrine dedicated to emperor Meiji and his empress Shokan. The Japanese diet passed a resolution to honor Emperor Meiji's role in the Meiji Restoration after his death in 1912. Interestingly, Hillary Clinton visited the shine in 2009 to show her respect to Japan.
The shrine is located in a forest 700,000 square meters large, and oddly enough, is situated right next to Harajuku and Shibuya, some of the liveliest, hippest centers in Tokyo. After walking past crazy teens striving to follow all the latest trends, the shrine is a stark change of scenery. A long path accompanied by tall, strong trees leads visitors to the shrine area.
Donated sake barrels litter the side of the pathway, showing the respect of many to the shrine. Although the structures are rather simple, their size is quite majestic and impressive.
In addition, when I visited, several wedding processions were going on, further demonstrating the importance of the area as many couples desire to and pay large sums of money to get married there. Japanese people tell me that they wear a traditional kimono as seen at the shrine, in addition to an American-style wedding dress.
It was definitely a very different experience for me, having grown in America with no education in Japanese culture or Shintoism.
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Harajuku & Shibuya
Harajuku is a mere five minute walk from the Meiji Shrine, however, it couldn't give off a more different aura. Rather than a slow paced, quiet atmosphere, young people are rushing in every direction, seemingly with the purpose of heading from one store to the next.
Although rather antithetical to the shrine, Harajuku is not what I expected it to be. I envisioned Gwen stefani's Harajuku girls with ridiculous hair, multicolored costumes, and Fujisan high platforms. The real Harajuku is much more understated. Of course a few crazy sights can be seen, but it's more or less a regular metropolitan area with a high percentage of teens and twenty-something's. If you need to go shopping or fashion an overpriced, whipped cream stuffed crepe, go to Harajuku, otherwise, in my opinion, there's not much there.
Right next to Harajuku is Shibuya, another one of Japan's fashion capitals and a center for nightlife. Shibuya is also famous for its scramble crossing. Right in front of Shibuya stations, when the lights change from green to red, pedestrians cross in every direction, causing a crazy sight.
Shibuya is also home to Shibuya 109....possibly one of the scariest places I have ever been. The narrow building allows patrons to go from floor to floor up escalators to see small shops. It would be a normal mall if, in front of every store, the sales people were not screaming out of megaphones, advertising sales. It is one of the loudest places in Tokyo. I cannot imagine shopping there all day; rather than have a relaxing day buying clothes I don't need, if I stayed there for more than an hour, I'd probably leave with a headache.
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Kabuki theatre
My program had a few programs on the weekend for the American students. One of them was a trip to the Kabuki theatre. Unfortunately, they made us get up for a 9 am lecture that was pointless; an old Japanese man, although endearing, rambled on about nothing of importance such as American culture rather than teach us about Japanese culture. As a result, I slept through the first half of the show, which wasn't the theatre but explained what would happen in the actual show in easier [Japanese] words. I comprehended but a few of the words, but it was still fascinating to watch the meticulous performance with beautifully dressed men decorated to play both male and female parts. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed, so I only have evidence of the stage.
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Odaiba
Odaiba is a man-made area in Tokyo bay across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. It was built in the 19th century for defense reasons, but in the 20th century, developed as a seaport. In the 1990's, it transformed into a commercial, residential, and leisure area. Taking the Yurikamome transit system, I was able to get a beautiful view of the Rainbow Bridge on the way to Odaiba.
Odaiba is now home to tons of tourist attractions. My first stop was the Statue of Liberty replica. I find it amusing that I've never seen the real one in my home country. I guess now that I've seen it's baby, I don't need to, though!
The view was beautiful and I was blessed to visit on a day with beautiful weather!
Odaiba is filled with tons of different malls (like the rest of Asia). In addition to the traditional clothing stores, and souvenir shops, however, several indoor amusement parks and a takoyaki (octopus filled in pancake like balls) stadium are also available for entertainment.
Although I didn't enter it since a fee was required just to go in, there was also a festival going on the day I visited.
When I visited, there was also a giant Gundam. To be honest, I had no idea who or what Gundam was, and I still don't really know who or what it is, but google tells me that Gundam comes from a metaseries of anime that features giant robots called 'mecha' or 'mobile suits'. Despite my ignorance of the famous series, I figured I should take a picture with it (him?) like every other Asian tourist.
Having graduated with an engineering degree, I figured I should visit the Miraikan, Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Although interesting, like most science museums, it was primarly directed towards children so it wasn't mindblowing or extremely exciting. Upon leaving the museum, however, I came upon some cosplayers. Cosplay ("costume play") is the practice of wearing costumes, accessories, and makeup to recreate a character or idea, typically manga or anime characters. It is not unusual to see cosplayers represent the opposite gender. When I tried to explain Halloween to a Japanese person, they brought up the world 'cosplay,' which I thought to be an interesting way of looking at Halloween. If you think cosplay is strange, I suppose you can view it from the point of view that Halloween is celebrated a lot more frequently, and by adults rather than kids.
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Sensoji Temple
Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple, located in Asakusa. Wikipedia tells me that the temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon or the Goddess of Mercy. Legend tells us that a statue of the goddess was found in the Sumida River (in Asakusa) in 628 by two fisherman. The chief of the fishermen's village enshrined it by remodeling his house into a small temple for worship; the first temple was built in 645.
During World War II, the temple was bombed and mostly destroyed, but has seen been rebuilt. Hence, it is a symbol of rebirth and peace.
Behind me, you can see the incense burning from the worshippers.
Surrounding Sensoji are tons of shops and a great view of Tokyo Skytree.
Nakamise-dori is a street that leads to Sensoji. It contains around eighty-nine shops. You can buy almost any time of souvenir imaginable there.
I also bought myself a tasty treat. Grilled right in front of me, takoyaki style, filled with anco, and perfectly warm.
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Akihabara
Akihabara is known as the best place to buy electronics, computers, anime, and otaku (people with obsessive interests; sort of equivalent to a geek) items.
You can buy almost any time of manga, from innocent series to anime porn.... I went to Akihabara with two Chinese girls from my school and they took me to several different shops. One of them was filled with different types of dolls. People spend tons of money on the dolls (kind of like American Girl dolls), and fashion them with expensive clothing, wigs, and accessories. The girl I went with told me that she sleeps with hers and seemed to be quite fond of it. I don't think children own these types of dolls. When I took an Inter-asia cultural studies class in Hong Kong, we studied these types of dolls, and I only remember adults having them. Another aspect of Japanese culture that varies greatly with American culture.
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