Japan: Day 4
Today was my day. We visited Meiji Shrine ("jingu"), Harajuku, and Shibuya.
The Meiji shrine was dedicated to the Meiji emperor who he died. It's actually inside of Yoyogi park, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was just amazing, and the pictures don't hardly do it justice. It's funny to see how much Japan does that merging between technology and nature and everything. It's everywhere.
We went into Meiji Jingu and saw a lot of cool stuff, hundred year old bonsai trees and other similar things, and eventually we saw a wedding procession. It was really neat to see the bride and groom in all traditional clothing, as well as the priests and the miko.
We also went in and made a short prayer at the shrine. We watched some of the other people for a while to make sure we had it right before trying it ourselves. You have to bow twice, clap your hands twice, pray, and then bow again. Some people seemed to switch those last two. *shrugs* It was still really fun.
While leaving Meiji Jingu and headed for Harajuku, we got stopped by this really nice older Japanese man who asked us about where we were from and what we were doing and everything. He said that the last time he had heard about things in Dallas was when JFK was shot, and he asked us about how far the oil spill was from us. We explained that we were students, and sensei did what she said she would do and she pretended that she was a Japanese-American, and didn't really speak Japanese. It was really amusing.
After that we ran over to Harajuku and looked around a bit before getting some crepes to eat. They were amazing crepes, good god. I might go back and get another one, because they were just awesome. After that we officially disbanded as a group and moved about on our own. Sally, Cory, Caitlin, Brady, Lawrence and I kept walking around in a group while sensei and Amil headed off to do their own things. Eventually we all broke up and Lawrence headed back to the hotel. Brady went to find an ATM he could use while Caitlin, Sally, Cory and I checked out a couple of shops back on the main street of Harajuku.
After that we all got on the train and headed down to Shibuya, where we wandered around for a while. And I took lots of pictures. And nerded out. A lot.
We walked around and finally found the statue of Hachiko, the Moai statue, 109, and Dogenzaka street. We headed down Dogenzaka and found a little ramen shop, so we stopped there for lunch. And took more pictures. (Sally, Cory, and I have all played The World Ends With You, so eating lunch at a ramen shop in Dogenzaka was on our to-do list. At least mine. ^^) We eventually decided that it was about time to call it a day, so we headed back to the hotel where we chilled for a while and I did some laundry.
After a while we decided to go back out, so Sally, Cory and I headed back to Shibuya and saw it all lit up at night. It was really pretty, but I realized then that I'd left the memory card for the camera in the room. (And I just realized that I have TWO memory cards and one was in the bag. Sheesh! I'm dumb. >_<) So we wandered around and tried to find a bookstore on Dogenzaka, but we walked a ways before deciding to stop and grab some dinner since it was getting kinda late and a lot of places were closing.
Sally and Cory also took me over to this video game shop that had a ton of different things. It included a bunch of old games, like Gameboy Color stuff as well as brand new things, like a Tales of Vesperia movie that looked really awesome. We kept walking around for a bit and checked out Walk (?) City (Pork City, yes yes?) before heading back to the station to come back to the hotel for the night. I also spotted Tower Records, which, for nerdy people like myself, become "Towa Records" in TWEWY. =D
It made me happy.
But now I think I'm gonna crash. It's been a long day. Tomorrow doesn't start until later, but I'm still gonna get up early-ish and get breakfast about when I've been doing it before. Gotta keep to the schedule I've started to set. It's also really nice early in the day, and the sun comes up earlier here.
Alright, ja, minna.
The Meiji shrine was dedicated to the Meiji emperor who he died. It's actually inside of Yoyogi park, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was just amazing, and the pictures don't hardly do it justice. It's funny to see how much Japan does that merging between technology and nature and everything. It's everywhere.
We went into Meiji Jingu and saw a lot of cool stuff, hundred year old bonsai trees and other similar things, and eventually we saw a wedding procession. It was really neat to see the bride and groom in all traditional clothing, as well as the priests and the miko.
We also went in and made a short prayer at the shrine. We watched some of the other people for a while to make sure we had it right before trying it ourselves. You have to bow twice, clap your hands twice, pray, and then bow again. Some people seemed to switch those last two. *shrugs* It was still really fun.
While leaving Meiji Jingu and headed for Harajuku, we got stopped by this really nice older Japanese man who asked us about where we were from and what we were doing and everything. He said that the last time he had heard about things in Dallas was when JFK was shot, and he asked us about how far the oil spill was from us. We explained that we were students, and sensei did what she said she would do and she pretended that she was a Japanese-American, and didn't really speak Japanese. It was really amusing.
After that we ran over to Harajuku and looked around a bit before getting some crepes to eat. They were amazing crepes, good god. I might go back and get another one, because they were just awesome. After that we officially disbanded as a group and moved about on our own. Sally, Cory, Caitlin, Brady, Lawrence and I kept walking around in a group while sensei and Amil headed off to do their own things. Eventually we all broke up and Lawrence headed back to the hotel. Brady went to find an ATM he could use while Caitlin, Sally, Cory and I checked out a couple of shops back on the main street of Harajuku.
After that we all got on the train and headed down to Shibuya, where we wandered around for a while. And I took lots of pictures. And nerded out. A lot.
We walked around and finally found the statue of Hachiko, the Moai statue, 109, and Dogenzaka street. We headed down Dogenzaka and found a little ramen shop, so we stopped there for lunch. And took more pictures. (Sally, Cory, and I have all played The World Ends With You, so eating lunch at a ramen shop in Dogenzaka was on our to-do list. At least mine. ^^) We eventually decided that it was about time to call it a day, so we headed back to the hotel where we chilled for a while and I did some laundry.
After a while we decided to go back out, so Sally, Cory and I headed back to Shibuya and saw it all lit up at night. It was really pretty, but I realized then that I'd left the memory card for the camera in the room. (And I just realized that I have TWO memory cards and one was in the bag. Sheesh! I'm dumb. >_<) So we wandered around and tried to find a bookstore on Dogenzaka, but we walked a ways before deciding to stop and grab some dinner since it was getting kinda late and a lot of places were closing.
Sally and Cory also took me over to this video game shop that had a ton of different things. It included a bunch of old games, like Gameboy Color stuff as well as brand new things, like a Tales of Vesperia movie that looked really awesome. We kept walking around for a bit and checked out Walk (?) City (Pork City, yes yes?) before heading back to the station to come back to the hotel for the night. I also spotted Tower Records, which, for nerdy people like myself, become "Towa Records" in TWEWY. =D
It made me happy.
But now I think I'm gonna crash. It's been a long day. Tomorrow doesn't start until later, but I'm still gonna get up early-ish and get breakfast about when I've been doing it before. Gotta keep to the schedule I've started to set. It's also really nice early in the day, and the sun comes up earlier here.
Alright, ja, minna.