Imperial Palace, Tokyo Castle Oct.28, 2009

We visited imperial palace in the middle of city called Chiyoda. As usual, we used subway train and when we got there, only small number of groups was heading Tokyo Castle (some people called Chiyoda Castle). The original name of this castle was Edo Castle. It was the residence of shogun and important military area in Edo period. After vacation of the shogun and the Meiji Restoration, it became the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

When we were out from the station, we faced the tall buildings. We had a moment to enjoy the architectures but soon we faced the big square. There was nothing on the ground but only cement road. It reminded me like near war castle. In old days, there was nothing nearby castle to hide or to support defensive positions. It was good idea to bring enough water and orange to quench our thirst. Police were openly hanged around riding bicycle and some big bus stop by. Yes, there was bus stop place nearby castle… which means you don’t have to have a long walk with thirsty from the station. Using this tour bus would be good idea if you have child or parents.

Castle was locked and we could see only guards at gate. Children were not happy to be there and started to put their back up on me. But to me it was quite quiet place and even made us to have feeling like we were in the center of this city.

One thing arrested our attention was crow. There were many crows on the trees. I never expected so many crows in the middle of Tokyo city… But there have lots!

Coming back from castle to subway station was harder. We were exhausted and very hungry.

Finding restaurant was not hard but my family would like to try Japanese noodle. It was not hard to find Noodle shop because there were very long waiting lines. You would have many chances to see these kinds of long line in front of small restaurant. It was quite interesting. I saw one sandwich restaurant with long line in the morning. And when we back at night, there were still long waiting lines in front of restaurant and it was over 9:30 pm. So, I was wonder what happen if restaurant should close and still people wait in line. It wasn’t taking longer to get answer. One person started to distribute the memo with order number. They can keep this line in order next date! It was impressed to me. The system looks like to become their culture.

Well, back to the noodle, it was very taste and enjoyable try. I recommend you try noodle at Japanese restaurant. We had not enough time to sitting on when we noticed children in the line. It was enough meal to satisfy our stomach and took us out of exhausted.

Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, in Japan Oct.2007

Final destination of today is Meiji Shrine(明治神宮). We again use subway train. Good route to visit there is to take off from Harajuku station.

I looked up the internet to find out easy way to go and below is the detail that I found.
"Meiji-Jingūmae Station (明治神宮前駅, Meiji-Jingūmae eki?) is a Tokyo Metro station on the Chiyoda Line and the Fukutoshin Line located in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. The station opened on 20 October 1972 on the Chiyoda Line. The Fukutoshin Line station opened on 14 June 2008.
Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line is immediately adjacent to Meiji-Jingūmae Station and is marked as an interchange on most route maps, although there is no physical connection between the two stations."

Like I explained, visiting Tokyo is very exciting. To me, subway train bring me any place that I want to go. You'll never have chance to lost direction or hotel if you are good at how to use subway in Tokyo. There were already so many people on the street and we simply notice that this is one of famous fashion street as well (if you have child, you must have careful). It was like two wave on the street. forward direction of people and backward direction of people. You cannot stop in the middle of these wave. You must take either one. Beside looking at people would make you interesting. So, if you visited Harajuku, you will meet four famous stuffs. One is Meiji Shrine, Second is animation costume. And third is fashion street. The last one is people.

Right in front of Meiji Shrine gate, young girls were gather together from all over the country. They came to the place with dress of animation or game costume. When I got there they were having late lunch by groups. To me, it was hard to understand but they thought themselves like kinds of fashion modelers.

Whenever visitors tried to take photos they turned around and gave special guesture from that animation or game. Their makeup was so thick and little bit dark colors on the eyes. They seemed to be like sick... Anyway they are young and many days to learn, live, and experience.

They could be better look up bright side of world or at least costume... I took photo one girl who was wearing suny sky colors. I felt great to see her.

Meiji Shrine... It was totally different feeling befor you entered the gate and after. From the gate to the temple, Japanese people were wearing full dress and ladies and girls were wearing traditional clothes called Kimono. The Japanese word kimono actually means "clothing" but the word is used primarily to refer to garments.

A kimono's sash indicated the social class of its wearer. If you saw small girls wearing kimono, you can't take off your eyes on them. It was really so cute!!

One interesting thing was wedding ceremony. When I visited, there were couple to get married. First they went in front-left side building with a long line (maybe they families and friends) then later they changed their clothes with modern style. It was quite interesting view.

On the way back to the station, we lost the way! In the Meiji, there are forest in the middle of gate and buildings, and we lost the way. After 1.5 hour's walking, we finally found the way out. I think that there were no way back to correct if you made mistake at first conjunction. So, next time if you have chance to visit, check your route out from main center building. After long walking, we were so tired. We back to hotel and have dinner at first floor of hotel. The restuarant was small but old chef was so greeting us and so kind. Food price was little expensive but it was worth to satisfied our stomach.