For our stay in Shibuya, Eric and I had a local coffee shop
filled with pastries and food. It was very convenient as it was just around the
corner from the apartment and on the way to the trains. Another thing to
mention was that staying in this area we were generally pretty close to our
destinations. Harajuku was only one stop on the train. With it being so easy to
find, both Eric and I felt like locals. With breakfast at the local café, then
easily hopping onto the train why wouldn’t we?
Our first order of business was to get to the Meiji Shrine,
located in a forest of trees, filled with scary spiders. If ever at this spot,
on the walkways to the shrine, make sure to look up when passing through arches
or between two light posts. You’ll will see some large webs. Once you get past
the “eerie chills” of seeing these massive spiders, all is well. Catching a
glimpse of the first Torri gate and shrine, the chill inducing spider images
melted away.
Even though the shrine was reconstructed in the late 1950s,
it still felt as if it was from a distant time. This was our first experience
in Japan where Eric and I felt transported to a land infused with mysticism. The
Meiji Shrine, being a Shinto shrine, doesn’t belong to a specific religion.
Instead, the shrine is dedicated to matters of all inclusive spirituality. This
“blanket” includes wishes to fellow friends, hopes of getting that “A” on the
big test, or wishes of being healed.
It was quiet like a library or church. We even entered as
one would a Catholic church. We washed both hands and then rinsed our mouths
from the fountain, or Temizuya, at the entrance. We didn’t get a photo of us
doing that because it seemed a little inappropriate. Once we had been cleansed
or at least momentarily purified, we entered the grounds.
We wandered the main structure that apparently was built
without nails. Within the courtyard of that structure a wedding ceremony was
starting to process through the crowd. There were many onlookers. The both of
us felt a tad odd taking photos of this ceremony, but when would we have
another chance to see this? Since the wedding party too had photographers, we
sort of blended right in with the few shots we took. And, we sort of followed
the poor excuse of “well everyone else is”. (Ten minutes prior we didn’t do
that at the cleansing station. What hypocrites we are, huh?)
They had some young ladies working at the gift counter that
reminded us of “Rei” from Sailor Moon. They wear a very similar outfit while at
the shrine, a white top with red flowing pants. I am sure there is a proper
name for the clothing, but I am not aware of the name. They had charms and
postcards for sale. Entry to the shrine was free, so these proceeds go toward
the upkeep. Eric had purchased a Healing charm for his Mom. She had just had knee
surgery and we also bought what is called an Ema for each of us. It is a wooden
tablet where we could write our wishes and leave them there at the shrine. I
was very excited to do this!
If people wanted to, visitors could also step up to the main
shrine to give an offering. We saw some folks stepping up to the shrine,
tossing in some coins, bowing twice, and then clapping twice. Eric went up and
joined in, but we weren’t allowed to photograph this practice. The idea is to
send positive thoughts and wishes to people everywhere.
After strolling through the gardens and checking out the Koi
pond, we decided to head back toward the streets.
Nearby we would find Takeshita-Dori where it is said the
hipsters of Tokyo hang out in their unique fashion. As suggested by many, we
went there on a Sunday when the locals come out to show off. One of our goals
was to have a crepe from Angel Heart Crepes. We had seen quite a few YouTube videos
of people stopping by for the treat. But, just before that we needed to grab
food. What stared at us in the face? McDonald’s of course!
There isn’t much of a difference between the McDonald’s of
America versus Japan. The coolest difference is that when you’re all through
they ask for you to separate your trash. There was a funnel on top of the receptacle
where we were to empty our ice prior to throwing our cup into bin marked for
paper. I wish we had this here at home. The Japanese are very big on recycling
and it would be great if one day we could adopt this as they have, with laws.
We came across a five story store called Daiso. It is the
equivalent to the Dollar Tree where we even found great souvenirs for the kids.
There we found Japanese play money and even model trains for the different types
of subway lines. We knew the kids were too old to play with fake cash, but at
least they could see the difference.
After some wandering, Eric found Angel Hearts Crepes. I had
found a different crepe stand first, but he reminded me of what the actual name
was. I think the first one I found was called Angel Crepes, a knock off! There
wasn’t an awful queue. It took maybe five minutes to get to the order window. I
ordered the Blueberry Cheesecake and Eric decided on the Custard Chocolate
Special. It was REALLY hard for me to choose. With the “fake food” on display,
they all looked so appealing!
Although we did want to browse a lot more, Eric and I wanted
to get to the park and see the real fashion. There we would see the famous “Harajuku
Girls” dressed in all their flashy flair. So we decided to only enter the Top
Man store and then head over to the bridge near Yoyogi Park. It was a nice walk
and we did see a few street performers dressed as 1950s “Greasers”, but no
Harajuku Girls in sight. We pressed on, thinking that maybe we weren’t in the
correct spot. In the end we didn’t see any fashion shockers. We even asked ourselves
if Japanese fashion doesn’t have the extreme look it once had. If the year were
1995, I bet a few of those outfits would’ve stood out to us a lot more than
they did presently. Maybe we SHOULD thank Gwen Stefani for bringing recognition
to the Harajuku Girl? I know that sounds a little silly for me to say, but it
surely was a start.
Continuing down the street we came across a stadium that had
been used in the 1964 Olympics. In the parking lot of this stadium was a type
of flea market or even a Farmers Market. Eric wanted to check it out.
It was getting to be mid-afternoon and we had to keep in
mind that we were meeting up with a friend of mine around 5 PM. After all the
walking, we wanted to take a short break and maybe even shut our eyes for 15
minutes. It didn’t take us long to walk back to the storybook looking train
station, so that we’d get back to Shibuya.
Recharging in the room was an excellent idea. We still had
wine that our host had left for us, so we polished that off. We would soon be
meeting with my high school pal, Kwesi. I hadn’t seen him in so long. He lives
about 30-40 minutes from Tokyo while working as a teacher. During this trip, so
far we had met up with Sarah and Tom Bricker, and Chris from www.tdrExplorer.com
! When we planned our time in Japan we really didn’t expect to come across
friends like this!
We were to meet Kwesi at the Hachiko statue near Shibuya
station. Hachiko has a great story. I encourage everyone reading this to google
his story. It was a lengthy train ride for my friend, but a short walk for us.
This was our first glimpse at the famous Shibuya Crossing. It is comprised of 5
crosswalks running in a few directions. What really happens is people just
cross the street in any way they feel! It sure is a sight to see and definitely
hypnotic too! And hey, we spotted Kwesi hanging out away from the crowd,
against a mural.
Last time we had seen one another was in 1999 at the
Disneyland Cast cafeteria. Now, here we were in Tokyo, Japan! It’s really weird
how life works out sometimes. We had some catching up to do, but at the same
time, not really. As everyone knows, social media keeps people connected, so we
had a sense of the “latest news” about each other. He hadn’t met Eric before,
but for the most part he knew the whole story. We really dove into stories about
the present and what it was like on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Just like
with Chris we had a lot of questions about his experience in Japan.
I didn’t get great photos from our time together, but this
one shot sums up our time together at the bar. We climbed 2 flights to get to
the appropriate floor of the bar. Eric and I were still impressed that the
businesses are stacked on one another. Our drink of choice was the Long Island
Iced Tea, neither of us beer drinkers. We had a lot of laughs and shared a lot
of travel stories. But, it being a weekday and just after work, it was time for
Kwesi to hop on the trains and head back home. For both Eric and I, it was a
very memorable part of our trip!
Our night wasn’t quiet over as we were determined to locate
the Disney Store in Shibuya. As I said, we had a few drinks so this was going
to be interesting. I think we were lost for a bit and crossed the Shibuya
Crosswalk in a few different directions before we actually found the store.
Eric may have photo bombed a few pictures, in the middle of the road (crazy
American). It almost felt as though we were roaming around Vegas during peak
hours. People were everywhere and the lights on the signage were burning
brightly.
We also found Shibuya’s Uniqlo location. There were a few
items we hadn’t seen here at home, so we each bought something. I was hoping
the store would be a little bigger. I think the Daiso we visited earlier had a
larger store. This wasn’t even multi leveled.
Still, the day had been a complete success for all involved.
It was great to know that all this was happening in Shibuya just around the
bend from our apartment. Eric and I were very excited that we were in the
middle of glitz and hustle of the city. Again, it’s a great feeling that you
walk into an apartment building and not a hotel. We were loving our Airbnb
experience!
The next day would also be another big one. We would be
headed to Kyoto via the Shinkansen bullet train! It was going to be a 4:30 early
rise to make it out for the first train. Maybe we would see a Geisha or a
golden pavilion. We couldn’t wait to find out!
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