Japan Day 1: Tokyo

Day one started with a trip to the Meiji Shrine (one of the largest shrines in Tokyo, and it's right in the heart of the city!), Shibuya (where the large crosswalk is) and Harajuku, which has interesting clothing styles and shopping.

We started the trip with okonomiyaki the evening we landed, one of my absolute favorite dishes from Japan. It's egg, cabbage, other vegetables, and a meat/seafood of some sort. It comes in a bowl and you mix it all together and then cook it yourself! Delicious! If you ever go to Japan and have never been, I highly recommend finding a restaurant that has it and trying it. It's something that, for the most part, you just don't see in the US. Don't be afraid to ask for directions!

The Meiji Shrine is a shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife. The shrine was opened in the early 1900s and is often visited by traveling officials and diplomats. Emperor Meiji did much to open Japan to the rest of the world and presided over a dynamic time as the country transformed from a feudal society to a world power.

Barrels of sake donated to the Meiji shrine. On the other side of the walkway were barrels of wine. They represent a gift of peace and many of them have been at the shrine for over 50 years.

Weddings often take place at the shrine. We saw at least three brides and grooms while we were there. The white gown and headdress the bride is wearing is very common for weddings in Japan at the shrines.

This is the iconic, very large and very busy walkway in Shibuya, Tokyo. Although it's not as impressive at this angle as it is from above. This district is known for having many, many stores and excellent shopping.

This was the ramen cart near our hotel! This man had this little cart on wheels, some stools, a counter and made ramen late at night. We didn't actually get a chance to eat there, but we thought it was pretty awesome. In Japan, people don't tend to "eat on the go". So if you buy food in a convenience store, you're still supposed to sit somewhere (that would have trash cans) and eat it, rather than eat while walking, like many Americans do (just picturing hot dog stands in New York!). However, there isn't a lot of trash on the streets in the city and also very few trash cans.

That's it for Day 1. I'm still planning to reserve facebook for all of the pictures and the blog for the explanations of some of my more favorite things. So if you're on facebook, you'll generally see the same pictures, but these will have more explanation. 

Up next, Day 2: Kamakura Shrine!