This is Rosie and The Operators first day on the ground in Tokyo. We are out early to hit the sites and conquer the mighty Shinjuku Station which is one up on us at the moment. Hold on, it will not be today, our local station, which is only 50 metres from our door will get us to Harajuku and Shibuya, our destinations for the day….another time Shinjuku.
Meij-Jingu is our first tourist destination and the very first Shinto Shrine we have ever visited. The giant 1500 year old cypress Torii gate looms over us in the early morning light. Its is the custom to bow when passing through a Torii gate as this portal represents the boundary between the mundane world and the sacred one.
The long gravel avenue is so peaceful and serene, this woodland is in the middle of one of the busiest and biggest cities in the world and yet, you couldnt hear any of that at all, you could actually hear bird song in the trees and the crunch of gravel underfoot.
This shrine is dedicated to the Emporer Meij and his Empress who ushered in the new Japan in 1868. They opened it up to the rest of world, abandoning its isolation, leaving behind the old feudal states and uniting it as one country, making it a modern nation. These are sake barrels, aren’t the brewery brands awesome! They were presented to the Emperor as gifts from different prefectures in Japan to honor him and the new era.
Before you enter any temple, you have to undergo a cleansing and purifying process at the temizuya (font).
Take the ladle, making sure any water you pour does not go back into the font, pour the water into your left hand, then the right hand. Fill you ladle again from the running water and pour some into your left hand which you put into your mouth to cleanse it, spit the water into the drain and then cleanse your left hand again with the rest of the water in the ladle, all the while pouring your used water into the drain. It is a lovely ritual and Rosie feels a little OCD about it now and has to do it before entering any temple grounds.
Meij-Jingu itself has a true old world feel about it, it is made of Cypress and is dark and a little forbodding.
Rosie loved the rows and rows of prayer plaques…write a prayer, give thanks or make a wish, the priests will then bless it and hang it with the others. The tables below are all set up to offer you contemplation to write your plaque….and take your donation….all blessings come with a nominal fee.
Rosie is so excited, this will be her first commemerative stamp! They are free stamps, to remind you of your visit and nearly every sight and train station have them, Rosie did a practice stamp and it came out crap. The Operator took over and will now become chief stamper as his was perfect. Cant wait to fill my book!
We walked back up the avenue to where we had started our day and the tour buses had just started to disgorge the thousands, Rosie was glad we had started early. We were sitting down overlooking the Torii gate having our first coffee of the day and The Operator said look up at that building across the road…there’s cats in the window…its a Cat Cafe!
Am I being disloyal to my Special Kitty to go and pat another cat within 48 hours of leaving her? No, because she is already quite happily sitting on the house sitters knee according to a photographic update.
Off we went to investigate. So we took our shoes off, disinfected our hands and acknowledged the rules of the cafe which were primarily price based rather than cat safety or handling management. Very business like this cafe. In we went, it was a nice sunny open plan arrangement with spectacular views.
The cats were lounging, drinking from a wee water fountain. Or, trying to get as far away from us as they could by jumping into aerial cages or up the central tree.
All the cats were plumpshish, well feed and mild mannered, non fled and all were quite open to a wee pat and tickle.
The Operator was looking at his watch more than looking at the kitties…10 Minutes cost $10…after that it was a dollar extra for every min spent in there. Oh, we did get a free coffee/tea or a cold drink though with the admission. After precisely 9 mins 45 secs The Operator was steering Rosie out the door.
Around the corner was Tokyo Plaza, a huge shopping mall with the craziest mirrored entry ever. Ride to the top on the esculater for the best photo ops…. this seems to be Instagram central, all the girls were there posing and taking pics…and then there was Rosie. Lol.
Its lunchtimeish, just around the corner was a popular Gyoza (dumpling) House, that sounds abit like us. We waited outside at 11.20 and were second in the que for the 1130 opening. Come 1130 there were about 40 people in the line, wow this place is popular. A man came out of another restaurant next to the one we were going to beaming from ear to ear beckoning for us to come forward…we were in the wrong line….and everyone still qued behind us…..the dumpling man opened his doors and thought, where are all my customers?
Half the long line went to the left and the rest to the dumpling house. We loved sitting at the counter watching the bustle of the central kitchen, dumplings were the star of the show here alright, either fried or steamed, with leek or without, with garlic or without. Yes, Yes and Yes plus a beer.
Fortified, off we went to the Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersection pedestrian crossing in the world. Every three minutes the lights change and up to three thousand people at peak times cross the road from five different intersections.
What a place, it was pure busy chaos. Rosie wanted to get a good pic and heard that by heading up to the second floor of Starbucks you could get a good view over the crossings. Every other visitor to Tokyo had heard this urban myth as well…it was jammed packed up there, Rosie sneaked off a couple of crafty shots over paying customers heads before sneaking off not having bought a coffee.
Shibuya Train station is across the scramble crossing and out side it is a wee statue of Hachiko the dog, the story goes that in the 1920s this wee dog used to meet his owner everyday after work at the train station.
When his owner died, the dog still came to the station every day at the same time for the next 10 years. That is how cuteness gets memorialised…but check out the picture of the statue….cute, creepy, yet real. Very bizarre. There were about fifty people gathered around this statue (as per pic above) taking pics of the dog…..and the cats. As for the cats, they didn’t care one jot, just carried on licking each other.
Tracking back towards home we called in at the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, this is in the working mans hub of Shinjuku and towering office blocks surround you. It has a real Manhatten feel here and we rode the subway right into the basement of this building.
There is an observation deck on the 45th floor that gives you stunning 360 degree views of Tokyo and it is free! The late afternoon light was good and the view of the city just went on and on forever in all directions….this is one big place alright!
We arrived back in the home stretch mid afternoon, we felt like a beer but there dosent seem to be many bars around where you would go just for a drink, most have eateries attached. That is how we ended up having second lunch, at a charcoal BBQ joint where we ended up cooking our own wagyu beef on a small charcoal BBQ at our table, eating delicious pickled veges and drinking that nice cold beer.
It was fun! We enjoyed the tender meat that had a nice char to it and just melted in your mouth. Upon exiting, the happy helpful owner chased us down the street with a spray bottle, made us stop and sprayed us down. It was an odor neutralizer….you would never have known we had smelled of charred meat a minute prior.
Tonight we are going out on the town to experience nighttime Shinjuku, the red light area of Kabukicho, see Godzilla and stroll down Memory Lane and catch some dinner. Tokyo after dark, how exciting!
