This was my second to last day in Tokyo and I wanted to do some exploring again which would take me to different places around Tokyo. There are a ton of pictures in this post so I’ll be commenting every now and then and let the pictures tell the story.
I started off my day by going down the street from my hotel to another hotel to reserve my shuttle bus for the next day. After that I decided to walk back and visit a couple of shrines near my hotel.
I knew that employees of gas stations walked out onto streets to stop cars coming down the street to let their customers go out first but I didn’t know they did that with hotel guests as well.
I walked past a park and decided to check it out and grabbed some onigiri for breakfast afterwards.
One of the shrine areas I passed where I ate my onigiri.
I thought this dragon fountain was pretty cool.
This next shrine was actually right next to my hotel. Though it was a bit of a walk to get up as you can see lol.
This was another cool dragon that I passed by. I always stop by to wash my hands and take a sip of water whenever I passed by one.
The cat of the shrine lol.
My hotel was just down the street from the Kikkoman Corporation that makes a great soy sauce.
I went to Ueno park next to look for a statue of former US President Ulysses S. Grant which my professor asked me to look for. Unfortunately I didn’t find it that day but got to do lots of sight seeing.
I walked to a very interesting shrine next, you will see why.
If you haven’t figured out why it’s interesting yet, take a closer look at the next picture.
Yep, it’s fake lol. The shrine was undergoing renovations at the time but to let people see what it was they put a cover over it that looked exactly like what it was. Never seen that before.
If you ever wondered how to do the ritual at shrines, here’s a nice guide.
Passed by a mini amusement park next to Ueno Zoo.
A street performer getting ready, I remember him playing one of the songs from Nodame the anime version lol.
I felt like Akari in that one episode of ARIA where they went through the shrines and encountered the fox spirits. Btw, I’m still in Ueno Park lol, it’s a big park
Who says religion can’t be cute?
Finally out of the park and into a shopping area.
Traveled to Harajuku where I went through Yoyogi Park.
A bunch of sake containers.
A bunch of wine barrels.
In the center is Meiji Jingu shrine which is a very popular shrine at New Years.
I decided to walk to Shibuya station and passed some interesting places along the way.
A little area on the side which I decided to check out.
First taste of meat I had in like four days in this okonomiyaki, nice that they put the mayo on the side as I don’t like mayo.
Next, a very delicious, juicy, well seasoned, and expensive meat on a stick at 500 yen.
Passed by NHK studio park which was pretty interesting on the outside. Got to see Domo-kun and all the rest. Didn’t want to go inside though as I saw previews of it and it didn’t look too interesting for me.
Passed by one of the headquarters for the C.C. Lemon drink and they had this strange sculpture right in front of their building.
The only vending machines that I’ve ever seen that don’t look like all the other vending machines.
Passed by the Disney store in Shibuya.
Very expensive strawberries.
Two girls dressed in full Hello Kitty garb, quite cute and a bit disturbing at the same time lol. Cute though xD.
A little beef jerky stick I won from a takoyaki game ^^;;.
Four very loud and excited girls who were playing air hockey.
Hachiko at night.
My last meal of the day. Not pictured, the pocky.
Btw, I didn’t mention it but for more than seven hours from the time I was in Harajuku to when I got back to my hotel and beyond. It rained really hard and it seemed to follow me everywhere I went. I was soaked from the waist down as I had a umbrella and jacket to keep me dry on the top half. This was a sign that something awesome would happen the next day.
Related posts:
Fabrice
July 28th, 2010
Thats one thing also i like about japan, all those beautiful shrines =)
AS
July 30th, 2010
Yep, seems like every city I stay in has at least one lol. I always feel a bit refreshed when I visit them and have some of that cleansing water ^^;;.
Fabienne
July 28th, 2010
thanks for sharing all these interesting pictures and impressions.
my favorite is the one with the buddha and the four elephants
judging from the number of pictures you’ve made ,this day seemed pretty exhausting, wasn’t it?
oh and another question; Is there already autumm in Tokyo or was the wheather just bad?
Fabienne´s last blog ..Marisa
AS
July 30th, 2010
Haha, ya, it was a really tiring. I walked from one city to the next. Although, I only did it to save some yen lol, starting to run low that day. The weather was just bad that day. But all that rain did lead to something awesome the next day which you will see in my next Japan trip post ^^.
Mikoto
July 28th, 2010
What kind of onigiri did you have in the morning? Was it plain or one of those special flavored ones?
Those shrines looked very neat. I liked the dragon fountains. Pretty cool, as expected of the wisest mythological beast in Asia.
Totally huge park you went to.
Posts always get me hungry man. The meat stick. <3 I always use Kikkoman soy sauce whenever I eat my rice, so I took a bite immediately while reading the post. lol
Did you encounter any reapers in Shibuya? /BlatantTheWordEndsWithYouReference
Mikoto´s last blog ..My thoughts on One Manga and Manga Fox getting shut down
AS
July 30th, 2010
Haha, same ones I said in my previous post, ikura, grilled salmon, and spicy cod roe. Ya, all the dragon things statues were pretty cool, especially since I’m born in the year of the dragon xD. Yep, Ueno and Yoyogi park are pretty huge, especially Yoyogi which accommodates millions of Japanese people at New Years Eve. Ya, Kikkoman soy sauce is awesome. Haha, sorry, no reapers though it would have been awesome if I found some of those special pins ^^.
Nopy
July 28th, 2010
This reminds me that I still need to post pictures from my trip. It’s cool to see that we took shots of some of the exact same things (ie: the fake temple, the fox statue to the right of the shrine, the cute poster, and the wine barrels).
I lived close to that shopping district outside Ueno, but I only visited there on my second-last day.
Nopy´s last blog ..AT17 in 9 Days
AS
July 30th, 2010
Haha, I’m sure you went to lots of places I went to and so do many other fellow bloggers. We anime bloggers like to converge at the same places lol. Ahh, that’s pretty cool that you were near the shopping district, must have been lots to see. I only spent about an hour there lol.
softz
July 28th, 2010
Lovely photos you have there. Thank you for sharing.
Also, my mum buys only Kikkomun Soy Sauce. All these years, we only taste that soy sauce at home.
softz´s last blog ..100 Masters of Bishojo Paintings
AS
July 30th, 2010
Haha, Kikkoman soy sauce is awesome
.
lovelyduckie
July 30th, 2010
“I felt like Akari in that one episode of ARIA where they went through the shrines and encountered the fox spirits.”
Loved that story in the manga. Also do you think it would be considered odd if an American tourist paid respect at a shrine? I only recently picked up my first piece of Domo-kun merchandise, it was a T-shirt of a blue one with nerd glasses on. It’s me newest (and Favorite) shirt for working out. I think it’s adorable.
AS
July 30th, 2010
Haha, it isn’t odd at all. All the shrines I went to I paid respect to. Giving the shrine some yen, doing the hand clap/bow, and ringing the bell. It’s a nice experiance to have. Domo-kun is awesome and I always liked watching him online xD. It was a shame that we didn’t have a Target store when Domo-kun was doing advertisement for them a couple Halloween’s ago, I would have loved to visit Target just for him xD.
Yi
August 2nd, 2010
Those pictures of the temples and statues are stunning.
Yi´s last blog ..Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo- Anata to Koibito Tsunagi Anime Review
AS
August 2nd, 2010
Thank you ^^. I try to visit cultural places during my trip if I can.
anonymous_object
August 2nd, 2010
Wow, tons of great pics here. Looks like you’re having a great time! ^^
It’s making me want to plan a trip too
anonymous_object´s last blog ..Gwendolyn & Mercedes by Alter
AS
August 2nd, 2010
Take a trip and be sure to post pictures for us to see ^^. It’s always nice to go to another country for a vacation.
tabetaiiii
August 6th, 2010
lovely photos~
every time I see pictures of playgrounds in Japan, reminds me of kobato^^”
you sure love your onigiri!
tabetaiiii´s last blog ..Misaka Mikoto 1-8 and boxes
AS
August 7th, 2010
Haha, I need to start watching Kobato xD. I have it but haven’t had time to watch it yet. Yep, onigiri is awesome xD.
alucard13mm
August 13th, 2010
ooo a calico cat where it has different X genes inactivated, forming barr bodies. i wonder what goes on in the life of a shrine cat
alucard13mm´s last blog ..Mayoi Neko Overrun! Nozomi Kiriya Dakimakura by Cospa
AS
August 16th, 2010
Haha, it would be interesting to know what it’s life is like. I wonder if it would become famous like that train station cat xD?
alucard13mm
August 19th, 2010
its funny, there are so many unwanted cats.. and people complain of rats in subway systems and other places. lol i read that there is a subway station in NY where this trash room had like 2,000 mice living in it. they lived in the walls. like each cynderblock = home to 4-10 mice. the government was gonna hire a dozen cats to eat the mice. but im thinking that the mice will eat the cats lol.