Harajuku Girls and the Meiji Jingu (shrine)
For Kodomo No Hi, we headed for the Meiji Jingu Shrine, on the recommendation of a friend here in Tokyo. Apparantly we missed the Children's Day festival, but we did enjoy the shrine and it's sights.
We took the JR train to Harajuku. You've probably heard of 'Harajuku girls' before, right? Apparantly on a Sunday it is a sight to see, but we caught a glimpse of a couple of the brightly dressed girls today.
We rounded the corner and entered a totally different world. The world of the Meiji Jingu shrine. Meiji Jingu (shrine) is a shrine dedicated to the the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.
From the Meiji Jingu website,
Meiji Jingu "...consists of three areas: Naien, or the inner precinct, centred on the shrine buildings; Gaien, or the outer precinct, which includes the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery and sports facilities; and the Meiji Memorial Hall. These areas are covered by an evergreen forest of 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established. This 700,000 square-meter forest is visited by many people both as a spiritual home of the people and as a recreation and relaxation area centre of Tokyo."
A traditional Japanese style wedding. I heard one foreigner comment that getting married at Meiji Jingu is like getting married at St. Paul's Cathedral in the UK. High class maybe?
Outside of the restaurant and souvenir area, a man was engraving chopsticks.
This little girl was on her way to the shrine. Look at the beautiful kimono!
More vending machines! Who woulda thought?
We took the JR train to Harajuku. You've probably heard of 'Harajuku girls' before, right? Apparantly on a Sunday it is a sight to see, but we caught a glimpse of a couple of the brightly dressed girls today.
We rounded the corner and entered a totally different world. The world of the Meiji Jingu shrine. Meiji Jingu (shrine) is a shrine dedicated to the the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.
From the Meiji Jingu website,
Meiji Jingu "...consists of three areas: Naien, or the inner precinct, centred on the shrine buildings; Gaien, or the outer precinct, which includes the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery and sports facilities; and the Meiji Memorial Hall. These areas are covered by an evergreen forest of 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established. This 700,000 square-meter forest is visited by many people both as a spiritual home of the people and as a recreation and relaxation area centre of Tokyo."
A traditional Japanese style wedding. I heard one foreigner comment that getting married at Meiji Jingu is like getting married at St. Paul's Cathedral in the UK. High class maybe?
Outside of the restaurant and souvenir area, a man was engraving chopsticks.
This little girl was on her way to the shrine. Look at the beautiful kimono!
More vending machines! Who woulda thought?
posted by Rachel :-) | 10:38 PM
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