By this point we had made it safely to Tokyo, had endured the pampering of the Hotel Laforet for a week (complete with a cavalcade of hosts, doormen, bellhops and the like) and had moved into an apartment in the Shinjuku ward of the city. Furthermore, I had managed not to get lost, poisoned, trampled, knocked on the head, bewildered, sumo-charged, whisked away or fallen into some other ill-concluded happenstance during my "alone time" while Angela attended a conference for her work. Eventually we were ready for our first real outing. Angela, always one to notice such things, spotted on the internet that the Meiji Shrine was having a special celebration to mark the 90th anniversary of it's opening. Ah ha! We now had a destination so off we went last Sunday (Halloween).
First, a brief note about the Meiji Shrine. It was dedicated to the spirits of the Emperor Meiji and his wife not long after their passing. Meiji is important in Japanese history for being a driving force towards modernization in the mid to late 19th century. The shrine itself is Shinto (of course) and lies in a forest next to Yoyogi Park. Being a location of religious significance, I took the time to learn some of the etiquette prior the trip. "Shrinequite" if you will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Shrine
The nice thing about our apartment location is that we have easy access to many of the subway lines. Not only that, but the rides themselves are pretty brief to many of our soon to be most travelled locations, which this was. By the time we left our apartment to the time we reached and exited the subway station at our destination must have been about 20 minutes. And that was catching two trains!
We were deposited in Harajuku, the place to be if you are young, hip and want to be seen. By young I mean about 20 years old and younger. Sunday is a gathering day for such folks and gather they did do during our visit. Angela tells me that several of the folks who are fans of the music she is interested in come here to dress up, hang out and have their pictures taken by passersby. Harajuku will require a blog entry in itself, so I will leave that for another time.
After first strolling through Harajuku's labyrinth of streets to find a place to eat lunch, we made our way into Yoyogi Park. Every other Sunday there is a giant flea market nearby, but not this Sunday. However, there were still several stands selling various wares and foods, including takomaki; breaded fried octopus topped with sauces and fish flakes. Hot off the grill. Another stroll through the park made us realize that we must plan to repeat this adventure once the leaves turn colour. Yoyogi Park is a place for the locals to have some family time or perhaps congregate with friends to unwind from the hectic work week. Into the latter category I would place the yankee boys that we came across dancing to 1950 classics. (Looking for a photo of those folks. Shall post later if found).
The sound of taiko drums in the distance reminded us of our true goal that day, so off we went to the forest entrance to the shrine. This was richly decorated with lantern floats and other curiosities.
However the events there had not started, so we followed the winding path through the forest for a short distance before coming upon a way station where a HUGE lantern samurai had been created and a stage set up for traditional dancers and musicians. Fantastic!
We lingered there for some time, then continued further along the path to the shrine itself. Of course, 80% of the folks there were not following the aforementioned shrine etiquette which I had previously learned. Hurmph! The shrine complex has an open and spacious feel to it with a central courtyard linked to doorways leading to more side courtyards. There were plenty of locations to make a wish for good fortune, health, etc to the deities sprinkled throughout. This being my first visit to a Shinto shrine, I was left with a favourable opinion.
By this point, darkness had fallen, but retracing our steps along the path was not a concern given they had been lit with hundreds of lamps by volunteers in flowing robes. Very nice touch. Shortly after reaching the shrine entrance the show started with twirling floats, musicians and taiko drummers. The perfect end to a very enjoyable day.
More later....must get in the habit of taking my camera with me!
love this commentary Jon. Keep it up! i feel like I am in japan with you.
ReplyDeleteDitto what Flo said. "We want to hear and see more"; he said, living vicariously through others.
ReplyDelete