Our second day in Tokyo was Rob's birthday and the weather was much nicer. No rain. We headed out from our airbnb and wandered through this cool neighborhood towards the massive park where the Meiji Shrine is. It was cool to see people heading to work and school and feel the village within a big city feel.
The park that houses the Meiji shrine is beautiful and seems like a million miles away from the big city.
The Meiji shrine, dedicated to the Meiji emperor and his wife was BEAUTIFUL and blew our socks off. When you go into a shrine you do a cleansing ritual which we got pretty familiar with as the trip went on.
The garden next to the shrine was lovely as all the irises and water lillies were in bloom.
As we left the park this TV crew came up to us and asked us where we were going and they found out it was Rob's birthday. They asked how old he was and in his typical manner said, 30. "American joke? American joke?" It was really funny. Also he must be a famous TV personality because a lot of teen girls were geeking out and taking millions of pictures.
Next up was Harajuku, the crazy unicorn, cat, pink, funky youth fashion center. So different and pink and sparkly and glittery.
From Harajuku we meandered through and upscale shopping area and through what can only be some version of Little America with BBQ joints and Patagonia and American stores.
By this point food was a must and we found a long line at this fresh Udon shop and it had a long line of locals for a reason. Amazing. Rob's Japanese again came in very handy at this place as we had to order sort of like Cafe Rio and Rob translated for all 12 of us.
Next up was the famous Shibuya crossing (Times Square of Tokyo). So many people!!!
We decided to head to the National Museum next which was closed for some mysterious reason. Fortunately the zoo was in the park across the street and it was the baby panda's birthday. The zoo was a fun stop.
The last event of the day was a ride up the elevator to the top of Tokyo Tower for the amazing views.
3 comments:
You guys are excellent travelers. You do it all.
What a day. The food looks delightful. Love the birthday encounter. Also - super impressive jumping picture of Anders and Clarice.
What gorgeous and interesting places. The birthday story is hilarious. The video isn't working for me, though!
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