Meiji-Jingu

The Meiji-Jingu shrine was built to remember the Emperor Meiji. He was the one who decided to open Japan up to the world, he affected Western dress and also ate Western food and drank wine. The shrine is located in the middle of Yoyogi Park in Harajuku. To get there you have to walk on a crushed gravel path, you can find them everywhere in Tokyo but they absolutely suck to push a stroller on. On the way you can see some barrels which contained the wine that the emperor drank with his meals.





It's a very attractive shrine, with a large expanse of white stone for a courtyard and attractive cedar construction. All the ends of the wood were painted white which also looked pretty cool.





To one side of the shrine was a shop selling votive tablets and a tree surrounded by a wall of written prayers. You buy a tablet, write your prayer on it and hang it up for all to see. There was writing in many different languages and I spent quite a while reading what other people hoped for in life. Lots of praying for health, good relationships and general well wishing was on display.





As usual Alice was entertaining the locals by eating cake messily, running around screaming and falling down the temple stairs. The last was after we had been inside to listen to the huge drum that they beat before the midday worship. Of course we could have heard it from the outside, or indeed from the park entrance it was so loud. The drum was higher than a person and the stick (club) they used to hit it with was being swung like a baseball bat. Each beat Alice's whole body would tense then she'd look at me and grin ear to ear. After the ceremony she thought it would be an auspicious time to try to walk down stairs like an adult would and promptly fell on her head.


She'll never trust Buddha again.