It's only for a weekend, but it will be a relaxing getaway from busy Tokyo.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Going to Okinawa!
4th of July weekend I'm off to Okinawa with a group of friends!Okinawa is a large group of small islands south of Kyushu.
It's only for a weekend, but it will be a relaxing getaway from busy Tokyo.
It's only for a weekend, but it will be a relaxing getaway from busy Tokyo.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
chillin on the emperor's doorstep.
Summer is here.
8:30- woke up and headed over to harajuku, stopping at mcdonald's along the way and having a hot dog. haha.
10:00- Togo Shrine Antique shop in Harajuku.
lots of vendors selling old pipes, swords, kimono, dishes, art.
11:00 Walked through harajuku to get to Omotesando station. it was so hot.
11:30 Imperial Palace.
Thousands of perfecly pruned pine trees.
Imperial guards: the most boring job on the planet.
The Imperial Lawn.
some cool statue.
On the other side of the imperial lawn, is a small road, which divide's the emperor's trees from the public lawn/trees. We laid in the sun for a bit while waiting to go to kabuki.
1:30- On the way over to kabuki, we saw some imperial guards that were walking around the moat. they found a backpack, and climbed up a rope that was hanging down the stone wall. It looks like someone tried to sneak into the palace.
2:30- Watched Kabuki at the national theatre. If you are ever in Tokyo, check out the National Theatre of Japan. We watched a play for around 15 bucks. It was based on the chinese legend that eventually inspired Dragonball. The monkey king was actually named Goku too.
This is the play for next month. They also have English headsets and an introduction before the actual show.
After kabuki, we walked over to Yasukuni Jinja...the shrine for the war generals, criminals, and samurai.
Huge Tori
The whole place was very solemn and quiet.
Paper cranes
War Museum.
7:00- took the train back to Shinjuku and walked to Yoyogi Koen to end the night.
On our way, Curtis and I encountered a train track and put down one yen coins.
They got smashed super thin.
We also stumbled upon our new favorite ramen joint. It's called Kake ramen. you can get a bowl of ramen plus gyoza plus a side of soup for under 5 bucks. ramen and fried rice for 6 bucks....and the flavor was amazing.
8:30- woke up and headed over to harajuku, stopping at mcdonald's along the way and having a hot dog. haha.
10:00- Togo Shrine Antique shop in Harajuku.
lots of vendors selling old pipes, swords, kimono, dishes, art.
11:00 Walked through harajuku to get to Omotesando station. it was so hot.
11:30 Imperial Palace.
Thousands of perfecly pruned pine trees.
Imperial guards: the most boring job on the planet.
The Imperial Lawn.
some cool statue.
On the other side of the imperial lawn, is a small road, which divide's the emperor's trees from the public lawn/trees. We laid in the sun for a bit while waiting to go to kabuki.
1:30- On the way over to kabuki, we saw some imperial guards that were walking around the moat. they found a backpack, and climbed up a rope that was hanging down the stone wall. It looks like someone tried to sneak into the palace.
2:30- Watched Kabuki at the national theatre. If you are ever in Tokyo, check out the National Theatre of Japan. We watched a play for around 15 bucks. It was based on the chinese legend that eventually inspired Dragonball. The monkey king was actually named Goku too.
This is the play for next month. They also have English headsets and an introduction before the actual show.
After kabuki, we walked over to Yasukuni Jinja...the shrine for the war generals, criminals, and samurai.
Huge Tori
The whole place was very solemn and quiet.
Paper cranes
War Museum.
7:00- took the train back to Shinjuku and walked to Yoyogi Koen to end the night.
On our way, Curtis and I encountered a train track and put down one yen coins.
They got smashed super thin.
We also stumbled upon our new favorite ramen joint. It's called Kake ramen. you can get a bowl of ramen plus gyoza plus a side of soup for under 5 bucks. ramen and fried rice for 6 bucks....and the flavor was amazing.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Shinagawa festival and Courtesan Procession
Laurel and I went to the shinagawa shrine festival this afternoon. We ended up having a great night with good food and lots of neat things to see.
We got lucky and stumbled upon a mikoshi parade right when we got out of the station.
There were about 5 medium sized ones.
They passed us and then went up a large flight of steep stairs to the shrine. kinda scary.
We followed the parade up the stairs and found numerous festival food stands.
All the mikoshi assembled out in front of the shrine and they were blessed by the priest. Then they went back down the hill. Laurel and I got caught on the stairs and had to jump to the side.
Looking down the hill.
Looking up the hill.
There were so many stands. One stand had fruit that was covered with a warm sugar syrup and was quickly frozen on a block of ice.
We also had a chance to see an edo-period courtesan procession.
The geta they were wearing were longer than normal ones.
The oiran in the far back ended up almost fainting on her way back and had to stop on the side of the road to throw up. The lady said the kimonos are very heavy and it takes multiple hours to put on...and then they had to walk maybe two miles. so I wasn't surprised.
After the procession, we went back up to the shrine to see the lanterns in the dark.
There were still so many people going up and down.
The line to pray at the shrine was really long...and this was around 9 o'clock at night too.
There was japanese dance performances to entertain those waiting in the line.
The shops were all having specials for the matsuri...one in particular was selling dango for 60 yen each. freshly charred on the grill and then dipped in sauce or wrapped in seaweed.
Laurel and I concluded that this was the best dango we've ever had.
We got lucky and stumbled upon a mikoshi parade right when we got out of the station.
There were about 5 medium sized ones.
They passed us and then went up a large flight of steep stairs to the shrine. kinda scary.
We followed the parade up the stairs and found numerous festival food stands.
All the mikoshi assembled out in front of the shrine and they were blessed by the priest. Then they went back down the hill. Laurel and I got caught on the stairs and had to jump to the side.
Looking down the hill.
Looking up the hill.
There were so many stands. One stand had fruit that was covered with a warm sugar syrup and was quickly frozen on a block of ice.
We also had a chance to see an edo-period courtesan procession.
The geta they were wearing were longer than normal ones.
The oiran in the far back ended up almost fainting on her way back and had to stop on the side of the road to throw up. The lady said the kimonos are very heavy and it takes multiple hours to put on...and then they had to walk maybe two miles. so I wasn't surprised.
After the procession, we went back up to the shrine to see the lanterns in the dark.
There were still so many people going up and down.
The line to pray at the shrine was really long...and this was around 9 o'clock at night too.
There was japanese dance performances to entertain those waiting in the line.
The shops were all having specials for the matsuri...one in particular was selling dango for 60 yen each. freshly charred on the grill and then dipped in sauce or wrapped in seaweed.
Laurel and I concluded that this was the best dango we've ever had.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
ghost hunting!
Went to Naka-Meguro and we decided to go walk around temples and shrines to see if we could find any ghosts.
We did janken to see who had to run up and touch the shrine by themselves.
Aiya was the unlucky one.
Japanese graffiti.
We did janken to see who had to run up and touch the shrine by themselves.
Aiya was the unlucky one.
Japanese graffiti.
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