Picture Diary 6: FELL IN L O V E WITH TOKYO (part III)
As my excuse, I can only say that I've been busy and my next entry should be about the homestay I did this past weekend :) And now, Tokyo, part III of III.
As it was our last morning at our tiny hotel, I decided to take a few pictures out my window.
Straight out (there were plastic yellow guards on the outside of the windows, I guess for safety).
To the right.
To the left.
Artistic shot.
New Kouyo's sign. There are *very* few places in Tokyo that rent rooms for this cheap.
Once we had checked out of the hotel, we left Minowa for the last time, heading to Asakusa.
Along the way we found some neat old posters in the train station (I think it was Asakusa station, but I may be mistaken).
Nearing the station exit, we found this display (I think it may be a mikoshi, a portable shrine used to carry a deity) ...
Along with a wall mural.
Asakusa is best known for Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple. Naturally, it's a popular tourist destination, and the area around it shows this well. The streets leading from the station to the temple were filled with souvenir shops and ... other interesting shops as well.
Like this one, which indeed ...
... sells trunks!
And just as you might expect, there were coin machines to buy very small souvenirs.
Since I had already bought a little pin from the machine outside the maid cafe, I decided to pick up one from here too. I got the cellphone charm right in the middle of the first JR machine. (I think I'll continue to collect these as I travel around Japan; they make for cute souvenirs, and they remind me of the pressed pennies you can get at tourist destinations in the U.S.)
Finally, we found our way to the temple gate.
(I love the expression of the girl in the left corner of this photo.)
Senso-ji has a lovely pagoda near it ...
(You can't see it here, but I am wearing a very heavy backpack.)
Another view of the pagoda.
The main temple, against a lovely blue sky. We had great weather for sightseeing.
From the front of the temple, I could see an amusement park, which amused me greatly.
Both the temple in Nara and the temple in Tokyo (so I will assume that this is true of most/all temples in Japan) had a giant, covered, urn-like vessel where visitors could burn incense (and whatever they're burning in this picture).
Inside the temple, I was immediately attracted by the pictures on the ceiling.
I craned my neck to get a good shot of this lovely dragon.
To either side of the dragon were pictures like this one. As Senso-ji is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, I'll take a wild guess and say that's who this picture is supposed to be.
The inner part of the temple.
Just outside the temple.
Now that we had gotten our fill of Senso-ji, we found ourselves experiencing a different hunger ...
... so we stopped at one of the many food stalls outside to buy kara-age, Japanese-style fried chicken. (I have two cups because I'm holding one for the photographer, not because I was so hungry!)
While we were eating, I spotted a girl dressed in gothic lolita fashion and had to snap a picture. Gothic lolita is a bit hard to define, but it usually covers girls who wear frilly dresses in a certain style, reminiscent of Victorian and Rococo (French) fashions. In this case, the girl was wearing a frilly skirt and a bonnet.
One of the tourist shop allies in Asakusa -- I would not have minded staying longer just to shop, but we had a busy schedule lined up.
At around noon we headed back toward the Imperial palace to cover the things we had missed before. Along the way we stopped for a rest at the fountain park we had seen previously. I'm glad we did; it was a very relaxing place.
It may be hard to believe, but yes, there were still flowers looking this lovely in February.
The design of the park felt very modern -- it had a geometric quality to it.
It was fun to skip over the many little streams, and the water was beautifully clear.
Suddenly the fountains sprang to life, surprising and delighting us.
It was quite a sight to behold.
Reluctantly we left the park for the palace gardens and museum. I was happy to find out that the museum was open free of charge; we merely had to take a plastic "Admission ticket" at the gate and return it when we left.
The Japanese side of the ticket.
And the English side.
The museum featured a collection of items given to the emperor's family for special occasions. Pictures weren't allowed inside. The museum's collection was fairly small, so I didn't spend much time there.
The grounds were very scenic.
We had agreed on a meeting time and place before entering the museum, so I wasn't at all worried when I could only find three other members of our party (Mollie, Andy, and Tori). Since we had all finished with the Imperial Palace, we decided to leave ...
... and walk to Tokyo Tower, which we could see in the distance.
Not a good idea.
Although Tokyo Tower is a probably a walkable distance for a fit person who wants some exercise, it is not a walkable distance for already tired out college students who have been carrying heavy backpacks all day long.
We traveled some very pretty pathways ...
(I love this picture)
But as hard as we pushed ourselves, we couldn't go on. Literally, we could not walk a step further, because all of our muscles ached. We made it more than halfway by foot (which completely exhausted us), then gave in and hailed a taxi.
So, we did make it to Tokyo Tower!
(self-portrait)
It was indeed worth the walk and the cab fare (which, split between four of us, wasn't too bad at all). Unfortunately, the Tower was crowded and we had little time left, so we didn't have the chance to go inside. This disappointed me a bit since Tokyo Tower was one of the top things I wanted to do in Tokyo, but I was happy that I at least got to see it up close.
We took a cab back to our meeting place and found that the other members of the group had also given up on seeing Tokyo Tower (they didn't try to walk there though!). Our next stop was Harajuku, famed for its fashion.
On the way, we rode a train car that, during certain hours, allows only women on board. Since rush hour train cars are so crowded, touching and being touched by those around you is an inevitability. Unfortunately, sometimes people take advantage of this to sexually harass those around them. Women Only cars create a somewhat safer space. (Although we rode some crowded trains while in Tokyo, we luckily avoided the real cram of rush hour.)
Once in Harajuku, we proceeded to the bridge just outside the station, where we got a taste of the crazy fashion that this district is known for.
A "Free Hug" line may sound kind of sketchy, but this kids were pretty cute -- they got really excited when someone would come up to hug them. (I didn't, though ...)
Gotta love the white suit ♥
It was *very* strange to move from this crowd to Meiji shrine, which was no more than a few minutes away.
Where did all these trees come from?!
Along the pathway to the main shrine, we saw ...
... barrels of aging sake ...
... as well as barrels of wine.
A bamboo fence.
Meiji Shrine (in Japan, usually temple = Buddhism, shrine = shinto, Japanese religion) is dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife.
The shrine gate.
A close up on the design of a door in the shrine.
The main shrine.
I really appreciated the lush greenery located around a shrine like this one, which is, for all practical purposes, in the middle of Tokyo.
As we left Harajuku, we had a disagreement about where to go next. Originally we had planned on Shibuya (a shopping and business district), but Shaina said that she didn't really want to go there since it would soon be dark and suggested Ebisu instead. So five of us took the subway to Shibuya, and the other four (Shaina, Seth, Mallory, and I) struggled through the now extremely crowded station to take the Yamanote line (a circular train line that runs all around Tokyo) to Ebisu.
I'll be frank, Ebisu is best known for producing Yebisu beer. Perhaps because beer is such a lucrative industry, however, Ebisu was a beautiful, upscale area.
At the station, we rode the "Yebisu skywalk" (an indoor moving walkway from the station) and then headed toward Yebisu Garden Place.
It was a very pretty building.
We arrived in time to spend about 20 minutes at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (only enough for one exhibit, but still fun). After it closed, we walked outside to find the plaza transformed.
It is hard to capture in a photograph, but the trees were lit up so that they looked as if they were made of silver. It was exceptionally beautiful.
It was 6 p.m. and time to eat, so we strolled into the depths of Yebisu Garden Place and found a nice ramen shop. When I say "ramen," please do not think "instant ramen." Real ramen is very different.
I don't know what exactly it is that I ate (other than "some variety of ramen"), but it was spicy and sooo delicious.
After the meal, I ordered blueberry ソフトアイス (soft ice), which is like frozen yogurt. Like the ramen, it was amazing. (Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture.)
Ebisu was a very good choice ^_^
I took a picture of the Yebisu beer logo before we left on the train (even though Ebisu is known for its beer, none of us drank any).
Ikebukuro, the same place our bus dropped us off on Friday morning (which now seemed so long ago!), was our last destination in Tokyo. We returned to the McDonald's we had eaten breakfast at, where we met the rest of the group. I was doubly glad I had gone to Ebisu instead of Shibuya; several of the others mentioned that the people there were unfriendly and the place they ate at had bad service. Shaina commented that she was beginning to think Shibuya was what had made her dislike Tokyo when she visited it previously; now she felt differently.
While sitting in that Tokyo McDonald's, I took some pictures.
Seth and Shaina.
Mallory. (At this point, I was the only one in our mini-group not wearing glasses.)
We still had some time left before the bus came, so we wandered outside for a bit, where we saw a young (20s) street performer attract a crowd and do magic and stunts (including blowing up a rubber glove with his nose until it popped, which is much cooler than it sounds!). We were very impressed by his performance and donated some change to his cause (I didn't understand all of what he said, but I got the impression this was his debut performance).
Seeking a warm place to stay for a while, a few of us headed to an Excelsior Caffe in the JR (Japan Railways) Station for warm drinks and sticky cinnamon rolls. The reality of leaving this fascinating place called Tokyo hit me, and I sat staring out the window.
I miss Tokyo, but leaving it does not mean that I can never return.
I would like to return -- I fell in love with Tokyo.
As it was our last morning at our tiny hotel, I decided to take a few pictures out my window.
Straight out (there were plastic yellow guards on the outside of the windows, I guess for safety).
To the right.
To the left.
Artistic shot.
New Kouyo's sign. There are *very* few places in Tokyo that rent rooms for this cheap.
Once we had checked out of the hotel, we left Minowa for the last time, heading to Asakusa.
Along the way we found some neat old posters in the train station (I think it was Asakusa station, but I may be mistaken).
Nearing the station exit, we found this display (I think it may be a mikoshi, a portable shrine used to carry a deity) ...
Along with a wall mural.
Asakusa is best known for Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple. Naturally, it's a popular tourist destination, and the area around it shows this well. The streets leading from the station to the temple were filled with souvenir shops and ... other interesting shops as well.
Like this one, which indeed ...
... sells trunks!
And just as you might expect, there were coin machines to buy very small souvenirs.
Since I had already bought a little pin from the machine outside the maid cafe, I decided to pick up one from here too. I got the cellphone charm right in the middle of the first JR machine. (I think I'll continue to collect these as I travel around Japan; they make for cute souvenirs, and they remind me of the pressed pennies you can get at tourist destinations in the U.S.)
Finally, we found our way to the temple gate.
(I love the expression of the girl in the left corner of this photo.)
Senso-ji has a lovely pagoda near it ...
(You can't see it here, but I am wearing a very heavy backpack.)
Another view of the pagoda.
The main temple, against a lovely blue sky. We had great weather for sightseeing.
From the front of the temple, I could see an amusement park, which amused me greatly.
Both the temple in Nara and the temple in Tokyo (so I will assume that this is true of most/all temples in Japan) had a giant, covered, urn-like vessel where visitors could burn incense (and whatever they're burning in this picture).
Inside the temple, I was immediately attracted by the pictures on the ceiling.
I craned my neck to get a good shot of this lovely dragon.
To either side of the dragon were pictures like this one. As Senso-ji is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, I'll take a wild guess and say that's who this picture is supposed to be.
The inner part of the temple.
Just outside the temple.
Now that we had gotten our fill of Senso-ji, we found ourselves experiencing a different hunger ...
... so we stopped at one of the many food stalls outside to buy kara-age, Japanese-style fried chicken. (I have two cups because I'm holding one for the photographer, not because I was so hungry!)
While we were eating, I spotted a girl dressed in gothic lolita fashion and had to snap a picture. Gothic lolita is a bit hard to define, but it usually covers girls who wear frilly dresses in a certain style, reminiscent of Victorian and Rococo (French) fashions. In this case, the girl was wearing a frilly skirt and a bonnet.
One of the tourist shop allies in Asakusa -- I would not have minded staying longer just to shop, but we had a busy schedule lined up.
At around noon we headed back toward the Imperial palace to cover the things we had missed before. Along the way we stopped for a rest at the fountain park we had seen previously. I'm glad we did; it was a very relaxing place.
It may be hard to believe, but yes, there were still flowers looking this lovely in February.
The design of the park felt very modern -- it had a geometric quality to it.
It was fun to skip over the many little streams, and the water was beautifully clear.
Suddenly the fountains sprang to life, surprising and delighting us.
It was quite a sight to behold.
Reluctantly we left the park for the palace gardens and museum. I was happy to find out that the museum was open free of charge; we merely had to take a plastic "Admission ticket" at the gate and return it when we left.
The Japanese side of the ticket.
And the English side.
The museum featured a collection of items given to the emperor's family for special occasions. Pictures weren't allowed inside. The museum's collection was fairly small, so I didn't spend much time there.
The grounds were very scenic.
We had agreed on a meeting time and place before entering the museum, so I wasn't at all worried when I could only find three other members of our party (Mollie, Andy, and Tori). Since we had all finished with the Imperial Palace, we decided to leave ...
... and walk to Tokyo Tower, which we could see in the distance.
Not a good idea.
Although Tokyo Tower is a probably a walkable distance for a fit person who wants some exercise, it is not a walkable distance for already tired out college students who have been carrying heavy backpacks all day long.
We traveled some very pretty pathways ...
(I love this picture)
But as hard as we pushed ourselves, we couldn't go on. Literally, we could not walk a step further, because all of our muscles ached. We made it more than halfway by foot (which completely exhausted us), then gave in and hailed a taxi.
So, we did make it to Tokyo Tower!
(self-portrait)
It was indeed worth the walk and the cab fare (which, split between four of us, wasn't too bad at all). Unfortunately, the Tower was crowded and we had little time left, so we didn't have the chance to go inside. This disappointed me a bit since Tokyo Tower was one of the top things I wanted to do in Tokyo, but I was happy that I at least got to see it up close.
We took a cab back to our meeting place and found that the other members of the group had also given up on seeing Tokyo Tower (they didn't try to walk there though!). Our next stop was Harajuku, famed for its fashion.
On the way, we rode a train car that, during certain hours, allows only women on board. Since rush hour train cars are so crowded, touching and being touched by those around you is an inevitability. Unfortunately, sometimes people take advantage of this to sexually harass those around them. Women Only cars create a somewhat safer space. (Although we rode some crowded trains while in Tokyo, we luckily avoided the real cram of rush hour.)
Once in Harajuku, we proceeded to the bridge just outside the station, where we got a taste of the crazy fashion that this district is known for.
A "Free Hug" line may sound kind of sketchy, but this kids were pretty cute -- they got really excited when someone would come up to hug them. (I didn't, though ...)
Gotta love the white suit ♥
It was *very* strange to move from this crowd to Meiji shrine, which was no more than a few minutes away.
Where did all these trees come from?!
Along the pathway to the main shrine, we saw ...
... barrels of aging sake ...
... as well as barrels of wine.
A bamboo fence.
Meiji Shrine (in Japan, usually temple = Buddhism, shrine = shinto, Japanese religion) is dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife.
The shrine gate.
A close up on the design of a door in the shrine.
The main shrine.
I really appreciated the lush greenery located around a shrine like this one, which is, for all practical purposes, in the middle of Tokyo.
As we left Harajuku, we had a disagreement about where to go next. Originally we had planned on Shibuya (a shopping and business district), but Shaina said that she didn't really want to go there since it would soon be dark and suggested Ebisu instead. So five of us took the subway to Shibuya, and the other four (Shaina, Seth, Mallory, and I) struggled through the now extremely crowded station to take the Yamanote line (a circular train line that runs all around Tokyo) to Ebisu.
I'll be frank, Ebisu is best known for producing Yebisu beer. Perhaps because beer is such a lucrative industry, however, Ebisu was a beautiful, upscale area.
At the station, we rode the "Yebisu skywalk" (an indoor moving walkway from the station) and then headed toward Yebisu Garden Place.
It was a very pretty building.
We arrived in time to spend about 20 minutes at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (only enough for one exhibit, but still fun). After it closed, we walked outside to find the plaza transformed.
It is hard to capture in a photograph, but the trees were lit up so that they looked as if they were made of silver. It was exceptionally beautiful.
It was 6 p.m. and time to eat, so we strolled into the depths of Yebisu Garden Place and found a nice ramen shop. When I say "ramen," please do not think "instant ramen." Real ramen is very different.
I don't know what exactly it is that I ate (other than "some variety of ramen"), but it was spicy and sooo delicious.
After the meal, I ordered blueberry ソフトアイス (soft ice), which is like frozen yogurt. Like the ramen, it was amazing. (Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture.)
Ebisu was a very good choice ^_^
I took a picture of the Yebisu beer logo before we left on the train (even though Ebisu is known for its beer, none of us drank any).
Ikebukuro, the same place our bus dropped us off on Friday morning (which now seemed so long ago!), was our last destination in Tokyo. We returned to the McDonald's we had eaten breakfast at, where we met the rest of the group. I was doubly glad I had gone to Ebisu instead of Shibuya; several of the others mentioned that the people there were unfriendly and the place they ate at had bad service. Shaina commented that she was beginning to think Shibuya was what had made her dislike Tokyo when she visited it previously; now she felt differently.
While sitting in that Tokyo McDonald's, I took some pictures.
Seth and Shaina.
Mallory. (At this point, I was the only one in our mini-group not wearing glasses.)
We still had some time left before the bus came, so we wandered outside for a bit, where we saw a young (20s) street performer attract a crowd and do magic and stunts (including blowing up a rubber glove with his nose until it popped, which is much cooler than it sounds!). We were very impressed by his performance and donated some change to his cause (I didn't understand all of what he said, but I got the impression this was his debut performance).
Seeking a warm place to stay for a while, a few of us headed to an Excelsior Caffe in the JR (Japan Railways) Station for warm drinks and sticky cinnamon rolls. The reality of leaving this fascinating place called Tokyo hit me, and I sat staring out the window.
I miss Tokyo, but leaving it does not mean that I can never return.
I would like to return -- I fell in love with Tokyo.