Trip to Japan - Sites in Tokyo

We spent all day Thursday touring parts of Tokyo - a very interesting city. As we left the hotel, we saw a school group going on a field trip. As usual, they have on their identical hats so they stand out as a group. There were 10 children about Adam's age (2 1/2 years) with three adults. Do you think our kids would be so subdued?

Next we went to the Meji Shrine - a large shrine in Tokyo. The tori gates at the entrance are very impressive.Since the new year's celebration was just completed, we saw many sites left over from the celebration. Sake anyone? The sake is donated by those wishing special "blessings" and is used in various ceremonies.This is an uma (horse) board on which specific wishes are written. Back in the day, real horses were brought to the shrine and left in exchange for "blessings". This particular board has two of the symbols of the emperor, wisteria and chrysanthemum. These board require less care than horses!

We really enjoyed some of the ornate doors in the shrine.
The picture shows Adam and Lottie enjoying the shrine. In the background is a rope with rope tassels and folded paper signifying that the trees are sacred.

We also went down a street that had a lot of cute (i.e. "stupid") stuff for sale. We also saw many "interesting" people and styles of dress. First, here's the entrance to the street:

Next are photos of some of the shops:

The next store is a bit interesting (or scary - depends on you POV). We have no idea what Sex Pot Revenge means or stands for, but we didn't go in to find out. Yes - we're boring.

Next we saw a guy whose hair matched his jacket. How neat is that! Bob is looking for a gray jacket with most of the hair falling out; he wants to be in style.

If you think of "zen" as peaceful and quiet, forget it in this mall.

We go a few blocks and change from cute and stupid to outrageously expensive (maybe also stupid but on another level). We walked past many stores that we couldn't afford to go in to much less shop in.We had lunch in a Hawaiian burger place that reminds Amy of living on Oahu.

We also visited the Fire Museum where Adam (and the rest of us) had a great time. Thanks Amy, Chris, Adam and Lottie for the fun tour of Tokyo.