Gah! Pictures don't want to upload. I'll try to get something fixed soon...
Busy day started early with a 5AM wakeup. Ran into a German couple on the elevator and spoke some embarassingly bad Deutsch with them. After breakfast, I was met by my guide for the day, a sweet lady named Tomoko Furakawa.
Tomoko-san was very nice, supremely efficient and surprisingly a bit of a rebel. She'd wave me across corded barriers and when a policeman asked us to move, she whispered, "Let's stay unless he asks us again." I think she was determined to create a great experience, and she succeeded.
We began with a short walk to Senso-ji Temple, which is a very large, well known buddhist temple dedicated to the Kannon, the goddess of Mercy. We passed by a pair of statues of a god of thunder and another of wind. Another pair at another gate were matched in that one had his mouth open, beginning to say a word, while the other's mouth was closed, representing the end of the word. Sort of an Alpha and Omega-style thing.
We threw 5-yen coins into the box and said a prayer before visiting a cauldron of incense which had purifying and healing properties. At the front gate, was an enormous red lantern.
We then continued to a cruise down the Sumida River. While interesting, it was not exactly picturesque. During the journey, I got to meet the family in front of me. The smallest boy would not stop staring, so we made friends. At his mother's prompting, the older boy got to practice his English (mainly asking me if I liked this food or that food).
After the cruise, we went to the Hama-rikyu Gardens, where I learned a great deal about the makings of a Japanese garden. At the tea house situated in the center of the pond, we enjoyed some iced green tea. Tomoko-san's mother taught tea ceremonies and so she explained some of the meanings behind the rituals. The tea itself was quite bitter and served with a small sweet. The two tastes melded quite nicely. While leaving, Tomoko-san pointed out a statue of a frog. The Japanese word for frog is very similar to the word for "return", so the frog means happy returns both returning home and returning back to the tea house. I've learned that everything means something here. Except for when it doesn't. Sometimes the angle of a path is chosen as a lucky number, and other times a mysterious bundle is just a weight to keep the rug in place.
After the gardens, we had a tasty tempura lunch. A tray of different salts was included in this, including one that had wasabi. Yum!
We then made our way back to Asakusa (where I am staying) and went to a Yabusame exhibition. Men in period costume rode horses down a shoot while shooting arrows at targets. Quite amazing! But also so hot! We did not stay long, but I did get a few nice pictures.
From there, we traveled to Meiji Shrine, where the Meiji emperor and his wife are enshrined. From the moment we stepped onto the grounds, it was like leaving the city behind. Trees and paths created a feeling of being in a forest as we passed under tori gates (the largest in the country) to reach the sprawling complex. It is a Shinto shrine and so there is an emphasis on nature and the architecture emphasizes this be having a great deal of open space and seemingly little boundary between the surrounding trees and the shrine itself. We were lucky in that a wedding had just let out and so I got to witness a traditional bride and groom proceeding from one building to another. Such a solemn affair with most attendees wearing black.
Our last stop was at the fashionista paradise of the Harajuku district. Crazy costumes and teenagers abound on these streets. Tomoko-san took me into a Goth-loli shop (a mixture of gothic and lolita style clothing) which also played j-pop versions of Disney songs. We ended our journey by going to a photo booth where you could take silly pictures and edit them.
I saw so much today, really got a smattering of the different sides of Tokyo. As every guidebook I've read seems to say: Japan may be influenced by the outside, but it really makes every new thing distinctly its own.
Tomorrow, I am on my own and headed to Nikko.
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