Sunday May 10

Today we visited the Meiji Jinku Shrine and the area of Harajuku. In the morning on our way to the train station there was a festival going on. There were hundreds of people in traditional clothes that were carrying a large shrine through the streets. They were chanting and switching off who carried the shrine. The shrine must have weighed a few hundred pounds and was carried by probably 50 people.

In Harajuku we started at the Meiji Junku Shrine. The shrine had huge gates that were spread through the trail to keep the human world and spiritual world separated. The shrine was pretty big and had an open square where we saw two Japanese wedding processions that day. There were pieces of wood that you could buy and write a prayer on and put near a tree. In the main area people threw money into a box and prayed. It was a very beautiful shrine.

After visiting the shrine we went into the area of Harajuku. We went down a street that was packed with people and many shops that catered to younger people. There were people dressed up as animae characters. In this area there is a park that is popular with younger people who play music and dress us like comic book and tv characters. We ate at a fast food restaurant called Lotteria which was like McDonalds. I had a teriyaki burger and a teriyaki burger with a fried egg on it. It was very good. The picture posted shows the different shops and how crowded it was on this street. It is interesting that most restaurants will have plastic replicas of the different kinds of food that they have to offer near the front door. This makes it easier for us to see what we are ordering. Also the Japanese students help us in reading menus.

We made our way to another area which was like 5th avenue in New York but with more people. We visited a toy store that was five stories tall and was kind of like FAO Schwartz but it had many Japanese toys and some toys that were from American movies. They had a whole floor dedicated to the Peanuts and giant Snoopy dolls.

At night we went to a sushi restaurant where my whole meal cost $4.5 and I got a tuna roll, squid sushi, and salmon sushi. It was very good and it was a cheaper kind of sushi restaurant. I had a long talk with two of the Japanese students about all different topics. I learned a lot about their culture and their daily lives.