tokyo part 1

 we went to tokyo, japan for four and a half days.  we had a wonderful time exploring the city, learning the culture and spending time with family.

this is the outside of a buddhist temple.  the sidewalks are full of shops with toys, paintings, knick-knacks and people shopping for all of the above.

on the inside, locals kneel to pray.

this is an incense well.  there is incense for sale told to promote good health.  people buy the flavor that suits their wellness, or lack-there-of, at the time.

this is an ice cream shop that sells 33 different flavors of soft serve ice cream.  a dream come true for me, since soft serve is how i like to take my ice cream best.

this is the entry way of a shinto shrine.  there are three aspects to the shinto religion.  1- affinity with natural beauty.  2- harmony with the spirits. 3- purification rituals.  that is why there are three metal plates at the top of the entry way.  unlike the atmosphere outside the buddhist temple, the environment surrounding the shrine is very natural.  we had to walk along a gravel path for about a mile or so until we reached the outside of the shrine.  it is a very quiet attitude within the boundaries.  people walk with a hush in their footsteps and quietly admire and pray.

this is upon entering the inside where the shrine is.  we weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside.

there was a large fence/wall set up where people could by a beautifully decorated slab of wood to write their wishes for the year and hang it up.  i was able to find some in english.  

owners of businesses are also able to buy paper lanterns with their company name on it and hang it along the gravel trail to the shrine in hopes of good business and great prosperity for their company over the following year.

after we left the shrine we went more into the city.  we went to a part of the city called shibuya, (which ryan and i couldn't stop saying all week.  "hey, do you have any gum?"  "yeah, SHIBUYA!")

shibuya is a part of the city that is very popular.  we went to a starbucks on the second floor of a building just to watch the walls of people flood the streets whenever the crosswalk flashed the little green man and gave the "ok" to cross to the other side.  after all the people would cross the street, more people would start building up on the sidewalks waiting for the green man to return.  every time there was a flood of hundreds of people.

we also got to see a statue of the dog Hachi.  Hachi was a dog in tokyo that would walk with this man to the subway to send him off to work, and every day he would return to the subway to meet that same man when he returned from work.  they made a movie about it with richard gere, but the original story took place in tokyo.

after we took the picture with Hachi, i saw some girls offering free hugs on the street.  i couldn't pass up the offer.