Meiji Shrine Shinjuku

Sengakuji Shrine:


Where the famous 47 Ronin are buried. What are the 47 Ronin? I'm not going to go into it here, but for those who are interested, here's a link summarising the story:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-seve n_Ronin


The shrine also included a museum to one side where items of some of the …

Landing at Narita airport, we were faced with the expected order and spotless halls. At the same time it was more Asian than we had expected. Getting our rail passes issued involved countless papers and stamps and checking bookings on a big computer terminal. So much for super streamlined operations.

Being midday, the trains weren't …

We checked out of our hotel, leaving the bags, and headed to Harajuku for a day of exploring.

This was my first time on the Japanese trains, and it went pretty smoothly! Luckily in the major city stations they have a roman character version of the map (I can't read Kanji). There are trains every few minutes.

Harajuku was great.

We had so much planned for the day, we headed out the door by 9am. We stopped for a spot of breakfast in a cafe near our hotel. Yen-Lee and I bought a bagel each and some muffins and snacks for the road.

First top was the Imperial Palace and the surrounds. We caught the train from Shinjuku to Tokyo and walked towards the Imperial Palace. …

After a restless night's sleep with the partiers, we headed out for a stroll to Meiji shrine. On our way, we passed through the city and hopped into one of the manic arcades they have there. They have these claw machines that they are obsessed with.

We passed many cowboy crossing signs but never actually saw any cowboys. You know how they …

Todays post will be one of few words and lots of pictures.

Went to Shinjuku for some training and then wanted to go to Shinjuku-gyoēn but sadly it was closed. So then we decided to go to the Meiji-shrine. Afterwards we went to Tokyo Tocho (Tokyo Metropolitan Government building) North Observatory to enjoy a view of city and lights as …

Japan is my favorite country in the world, so far. The people, the food, the mixture of tradition and innovation, the mentality. I love almost everything about this country.
So far I've been there four times, but Tokyo has definitely not seen the last of me yet.

Well, Tokyo is great, as far as big ass metropolitan cities can get, that …

... playing outside Yoyogi Park, and the eccentrics were hanging out on Jingu-bashi...perfect! We even witnessed a wedding ceremony at Meiji shrine, so everything really was going to plan. With no time for hanging around, we activated our Rail Passes the ...

... ecstatic with my purchases! Went to Yayogi park where the 1964 Olympic park was built next to the home of the Meiji Shrine, the most important one in Tokyo.  It was destroyed by allied forces in WWII but rebuilt in 1958. We wound up in Shinjuku ...

... we hit a forest with a huge wooden gate and i thought it was Yo-yogi park...it was not, we had stumbled on the Meiji Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the divine souls of the emperor and his consort empress shoken. They had both passed away by 1914 so to ...

... ;That’s funny, I thought they stopped using that flag after WWII’, I said to myself. But after all, this was the Meiji Shrine, perhaps it had something to do with the old Emperor. At the entrance there was a large arch with an upward curved ...

... , but nothing spectacular. It's just a large evergreen forest. The real prize is right in the middle - the Meiji Shrine. Actually, the shrine wasn't even the real treat, it was the parade of visitors we found awaiting us inside. On Thursdays and ...

... . After a night of Birthday Karaoke with the other people staying in our gaijin house I lined up with the rest of Japan to see the Meiji shrine, an important place to visit in the first three days of the year. The queue was half way through the park ...

Went to Harajuku Station to have a look at the massive Meiji Shrine park area. I'm sure something was lost in translation, but from what I gather after the Meiji period it was decided that no more land would be devoted to remembrance shrines in the Tokyo ...

Tokyo, Japan - It was very exciting waiting for and boarding the bullet train to Tokyo. The bus was almost as expensive and four times longer. The trains are always on time, if not, the conductor will continue to apologize throughout the journey! ...

... a bit bizarre. On the opposite side of the train station was a large park which contained the Meiji Shrine, a great sight and some respite from the hectic Shinjuku area. I tried to imagine what it would be like there over the New Year period, when ...

... time and look forward to coming back. We spent the morning visiting the Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace East Garden, Meiji Shrine and Ginza area. We walked and walked and walked this ...