The evening from our first night here in Tokyo sent us out into the Shibuya neighborhood. This is an area most prominently known for its square with a major cross walk that turns into a sea of people when everyone is permitted to cross. We also walked around the area and had dinner at a small out of the way sushi restaurant.
Here is my favorite photo from the walk through the area. There were a large variety of shops and stores and some dedicated to Japanese photo booths, which allow the customers, namely teenage girls, to do simple photo shop edits to photos before printing them out.
The Shibuya crossing is sort of like Piccadilly Circus or Times Square. I thought it would be larger than it was. I always imagined it being a great expanse that took a lot of time to cross. I think the thing I liked the most were the advertisements and how they run across screens with audio accompanying the experience. The ads here are actually interesting and I really enjoy seeing them on the metro which on some trains has the same experience of the ads running across the screens. More or less the ads are designed with multiple screens in mind to create a cohesive experience. On a large scale it really impressed me and made me want to buy things.
Here is my favorite photo from the walk through the area. There were a large variety of shops and stores and some dedicated to Japanese photo booths, which allow the customers, namely teenage girls, to do simple photo shop edits to photos before printing them out.
The Shibuya crossing is sort of like Piccadilly Circus or Times Square. I thought it would be larger than it was. I always imagined it being a great expanse that took a lot of time to cross. I think the thing I liked the most were the advertisements and how they run across screens with audio accompanying the experience. The ads here are actually interesting and I really enjoy seeing them on the metro which on some trains has the same experience of the ads running across the screens. More or less the ads are designed with multiple screens in mind to create a cohesive experience. On a large scale it really impressed me and made me want to buy things.
Today we spent the day in North Tokyo visiting Senso-Ji, Ueno Park, and the National Museum.
Senso-Ji is the oldest temple in Tokyo dating from 645 and is located in Asakusa, an area also known for the beer Asahi. We crossed over the river on a brief walk before heading toward the temple.
The picture above is looking back at the main entrance to the temple. There were a variety of activities for soul purification, good fortune, and cleansing. Aina and Montse were most interested in the good fortune. No soul purification needed here folks.
Aina working on some joojoo to get that good fortune.
The hexagonal container contains many long wood sticks. You shake the container, while projecting good thoughts, then turn it up side down and out from a small slot will fall one of the wooden sticks. Each stick has an individual marking that corresponds to one of the wooden drawers in the photo. Aina and I each received "regular" fortunes. It's sort of akin to "just keep on trucking, homie" and the one I received below refers to me as a general, which I guess in this case is just a "regular" one, but I did like the part that said "It is good to start a trip". But really this fortune friggin' knows me; first the general and followed by it knowing that there were changes in my life... crazy.
Montse received a "Bad Fortune" did not snap a photo of that one. Also all the bad fortunes must be tied to a stand while they are cleansed or something or until there are too many and need to be thrown away.
Spirit smoke. Get some. It smelled good.
Yakitoris were next door. Get some of those too. They taste better than the spirit smoke. There were a variety in the photo below and they are your run of the mill meat products (chicken, beef, pork) with squid thrown in for good fashion.
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