Divine Trees & Ninja Caves

Becca: This is our first day without Dad. I miss him.

Olly: Me too.

But, I absolutely loved our morning at the Meiji Jingu Shrine. It was so peaceful. My favorite part was writing on the prayer votive tablets (“ema”) and adding it to the divine tree. Remember we talked about how you can plan so much of your trip, but sometimes unexpected things happen that can make a moment feel special. What was that moment this morning at the shrine—do you remember?

We saw a special wedding?

It was a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony. We saw women in kimonos getting the bride ready to see the groom. How were the bride and groom dressed? 

The bride was wearing a long white dress that covered her head. The Groom was wearing a skirt.

What else do you remember from the shrine this morning?

Praying by clapping twice and bowing. Hanging our prayer on the tree with writing in lots of languages. Seeing the gardener rake the leaves.

We had ramen for lunch in Ebisu. What did you think?

It was good! Better than the Ramen Shop I think.

Then we went to Tokyo Tower. We met a huge yellow Moray Eel with white eyes and other strange fish at the aquarium at the bottom of Tokyo Tower.

That eel was so nuts. It scared my pants off.

I liked the kissing fish and the puffer fish too. Ok, then we went to the tippy top of Tokyo Tower. What did you see?

The ferris wheel we rode the other day. The skytree. Water buses in the river. And… our hotel in Shinjuku.

Then, Ninja dinner! That was cool.

Yeah. It was like a Ninja cave. We went through dark tunnels and trap doors to get to our table. Ninjas brought our food and there was a super neat magic trick. But I think I know how he did it. It was up his sleeve.

I don’t know. He was pretty stealth. I also liked the little Ninja strawberry with the chocolate sword.

And it came in a black box with smoke coming out ot it!

Breakfast.

Heading into Yoyogi Park to the Meiji Shrine.

A quiet walk to the shrine.

We learned that visitors cleanse their hands for purity before they enter the shrine to pray.

An intimate wedding ceremony that we felt lucky to see.

The bride and groom posed by the gate for the wedding photographers and a few visitors to take photographs.

Hanging our wooden prayer votive.

The “divine tree”.

We watched this gardener gracefully rake leaves by moving his long rake in wide sweeping circles.

Barrels of sake wrapped in straw.

Harajuku to Ebisu.

Breaking into a little salmon jerky snack.

Daikanyama

Tsutaya book store. Great magazine selection.

A cute little bakery where we bought some snacks for our Shinkansen ride tomorrow.

Walking along the river in Nakameguro.

Self portrait.

Olly wanted a photo of this. He thought it might be Mt. Fuji.

A stop for coffee and steamed milk.

More snacks for the Shinkansen.

Ramen at Ippudo in Ebisu

A quick swing before getting back on the subway.

 Tokyo Tower

We were greeted at the Tokyo Tower Aquarium by an enormous green Moray Eel with huge white eyes.

Quite an entertaining aquarium…

Olly loved that is was Nemo & Dory next to each other.

We thought he was checking us out.

The lips of a kissing fish.

We wish we knew what this sign said…

We kept coming back to the eel.

Avoiding eye contact.

Olly doing his best eel impersonation. We love that the eel is impersonating Olly as well.

Main Observatory (150m)

Small elevator to the special observatory.

Special Observatory (250m)

.

Looking down.

These two remind me of Olly & Lola.

Catnap.

Dinner in a Ninja Lair.

Smoking mystery dessert box.

Ninja Strawberry

… with a tiny chocolate sword.

Spent.