Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Sunsoji Temple
After we left Yoyogi Park, we made our way via JR line and the subway to Sunsoji Temple. Wet entered Sunsoji through the Kaminarimon, the thunder gate, and proceed down a two hundred meter shop lined street known as the Nakamise.
While the Nakamise was closed to auto traffic, it was packed with people. We decided to skip shopping on our way in, and found a parallel side street that was much less crowded. Proceeding through the Hozomon gate, we entered the main temple complex. A five story pagoda and the Asakusa Shrine are also in the main temple area.
We explored the area around Sunsoji Temple for a while, finding more shrines and side streets with shopping. One of the highlights was a shopkeeper wearing traditional Japanese clothing who was selling wooden toys. He was teaching a tourist how play a game involving a wooden ball attached by a string to a small wooden mallet with concave heads. The object of the game was to catch the ball on the cupped part of the hammer. We stopped to watch, and soon Jacob and then Aleena were trying their hand at the game. The merchant's son arrived, and he and Jacob played a game where they tried to knock each other's wooden ball off the mallet.
It is amazing what a little marketing and enthusiasm can do, as we ended up buying three or four things at his shop. We had walked by dozens of shops that sold the same kind of wooden toys but never stopped.
We stopped for a very uninspired dinner at a restaurant not far from our hotel in Shinjuku. Like most restaurants that I have eaten at in Asia, they serve the meals as are ready instead of timing them all to be finished at once. This works fine when you are sharing dishes family style, but I think it doesn't work so well when you are having individual dishes. This is particularly true when the waitress does not write down part of the order, as happened on this night. She did not write down Jacob's order, but we didn't know for certain until everyone else was nearly finished. Jacob and I waited for his lamb chop while the girls returned to the hotel. While he said that it was delicious, I don't think that there was more than two or three ounces of meat on this cut.
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We explored the area around Sunsoji Temple for a while, finding more shrines and side streets with shopping. One of the highlights was a shopkeeper wearing traditional Japanese clothing who was selling wooden toys. He was teaching a tourist how play a game involving a wooden ball attached by a string to a small wooden mallet with concave heads. The object of the game was to catch the ball on the cupped part of the hammer. We stopped to watch, and soon Jacob and then Aleena were trying their hand at the game. The merchant's son arrived, and he and Jacob played a game where they tried to knock each other's wooden ball off the mallet.
It is amazing what a little marketing and enthusiasm can do, as we ended up buying three or four things at his shop. We had walked by dozens of shops that sold the same kind of wooden toys but never stopped.
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We stopped for a very uninspired dinner at a restaurant not far from our hotel in Shinjuku. Like most restaurants that I have eaten at in Asia, they serve the meals as are ready instead of timing them all to be finished at once. This works fine when you are sharing dishes family style, but I think it doesn't work so well when you are having individual dishes. This is particularly true when the waitress does not write down part of the order, as happened on this night. She did not write down Jacob's order, but we didn't know for certain until everyone else was nearly finished. Jacob and I waited for his lamb chop while the girls returned to the hotel. While he said that it was delicious, I don't think that there was more than two or three ounces of meat on this cut.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Yoyogi Park
After our visit to Meiji Shrine, we visited Yoyogi Park. Yoyogi is a very large park in Tokyo. The timing of our visit was fortunate in two ways. First, the sakura was still blooming in many parts of the park, making for lovely viewing and some nice photo opportunities. Secondly, we were lucky because we visited on Sunday; the day many Japanese flock to the park.
The sakura had already fallen from the trees near the entrance of the park, but as we walked in deeper, the trees lining the path were full of the beautiful cherry blossoms. What the entrance of the park did have, however, was several people practicing some weapons based martial arts.
The park was pretty full, but it didn't feel overly crowded. People were picnicking under the trees, sitting on blue plastic tarps. I'm not sure if they sell the tarps in any other color, but I think every single one looked the same. In some places, you could not see the ground at all due to the blue tarps.
I get the impression that Yoyogi park is a place where people can cut loose a bit. During our travels, the overwhelming majority of Japanese people were dressed in black, dark blue or white. In Yoyogi park, people dressed a bit more daring, and some younger people even sported some unusual hair cuts. Not only did the people dress more colorful, so did the dogs. There were many people walking their dogs in the park, and more than a handful of them had dressed up their pooches. One couple even pushed their two small canines around in a stroller.
Yoyogi Park was a place that I could have spent an entire Sunday people watching; it was really quite enjoyable. The one downside was that if you were female, and had to go to the bathroom, the line was quite long by the mid-afternoon. After we ate, I walked Nalin over to the bathroom while Tim, Jacob and Aleena finished eating. After about twenty minutes, she was near the front of the line when Tim called, telling me that Aleena had to desperately go to the bathroom. They hurried over, and Aleena got there just as it was Nalin's turn to go in the stall. Thirty seconds later and she would have had to either wait in a long line, or go in the men's room.
As we left the park, we saw a couple of street performers doing a mock combat skit. I didn't think it was all that entertaining, but the kids seemed to like it. As we made our way back to the subway, there were two western girls dress in anime costumes taking photos with locals and tourists.
The sakura had already fallen from the trees near the entrance of the park, but as we walked in deeper, the trees lining the path were full of the beautiful cherry blossoms. What the entrance of the park did have, however, was several people practicing some weapons based martial arts.
The park was pretty full, but it didn't feel overly crowded. People were picnicking under the trees, sitting on blue plastic tarps. I'm not sure if they sell the tarps in any other color, but I think every single one looked the same. In some places, you could not see the ground at all due to the blue tarps.
I get the impression that Yoyogi park is a place where people can cut loose a bit. During our travels, the overwhelming majority of Japanese people were dressed in black, dark blue or white. In Yoyogi park, people dressed a bit more daring, and some younger people even sported some unusual hair cuts. Not only did the people dress more colorful, so did the dogs. There were many people walking their dogs in the park, and more than a handful of them had dressed up their pooches. One couple even pushed their two small canines around in a stroller.
Yoyogi Park was a place that I could have spent an entire Sunday people watching; it was really quite enjoyable. The one downside was that if you were female, and had to go to the bathroom, the line was quite long by the mid-afternoon. After we ate, I walked Nalin over to the bathroom while Tim, Jacob and Aleena finished eating. After about twenty minutes, she was near the front of the line when Tim called, telling me that Aleena had to desperately go to the bathroom. They hurried over, and Aleena got there just as it was Nalin's turn to go in the stall. Thirty seconds later and she would have had to either wait in a long line, or go in the men's room.
As we left the park, we saw a couple of street performers doing a mock combat skit. I didn't think it was all that entertaining, but the kids seemed to like it. As we made our way back to the subway, there were two western girls dress in anime costumes taking photos with locals and tourists.
Panther Paws Week 2
Nalin and Aleena participated in the second week of the Panther Paws Track & Field events at ISB ES. Fortunately, the weather was cooler this week; although it is certainly not cool.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Meiji Shrine
On our third day in Tokyo, we visited Meiji Shrine, which is located is a large wooded area in the city. A guard scolded me at one point for sitting on the ground taking photos of Tim and Aleena. We weren't in the shrine area yet, so I am not sure of the problem.
Along the road to the shrine, there was a large row of sake casks on one side and champagne casks (I think) on the other. Also along the way were large signs that explained the history of the shrine.
After about a twenty minute walk, we made it to the shrine. As you enter the shrine, there is an area to purify yourself by washing your hands and rinsing out your mouth. There is a whole ritual around the hand washing and mouth rinsing. One thing that you are not supposed to do is to actually drink out of the cup. Instead, you are supposed to pour the water in your cupped hand and put it in your mouth from their.
When we arrived at the shrine, we spotted a young woman in a kimono and asked her if she would pose for a photo with Tim and the girls. She very graciously agreed.
The temple is also a popular place for weddings. The day of our visit was a Sunday, so in the hour or so that we were at the shrine, we saw two wedding processions.
Along the road to the shrine, there was a large row of sake casks on one side and champagne casks (I think) on the other. Also along the way were large signs that explained the history of the shrine.
After about a twenty minute walk, we made it to the shrine. As you enter the shrine, there is an area to purify yourself by washing your hands and rinsing out your mouth. There is a whole ritual around the hand washing and mouth rinsing. One thing that you are not supposed to do is to actually drink out of the cup. Instead, you are supposed to pour the water in your cupped hand and put it in your mouth from their.
When we arrived at the shrine, we spotted a young woman in a kimono and asked her if she would pose for a photo with Tim and the girls. She very graciously agreed.
The temple is also a popular place for weddings. The day of our visit was a Sunday, so in the hour or so that we were at the shrine, we saw two wedding processions.
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