Today we spent the day in Tokyo. We went to the Meiji Temple in Harajuku and it was beautiful. They gardens surrounding it reminded me of Central Park in New York because it seems to be an oasis of green in a busy metropolis.
While we were there, we wrote prayers and sealed them with a kiss.
We also saw many traditional weddings while we were there. I felt bad because there were so many tourists taking pictures of the weddings, but they didn’t seem to mind. Kei told us that it was fine as long as we bowed, and maybe said a congratulatory greeting. Many of the Japanese are happy to let you take pictures, as long as your don’t try and “steal” them.
The bride wears a white robe with a huge dome covering her head- Star Wars-style. The wedding party walks around the temple signifying going into a new life.
After that, we went to the Takeashita Street in Harajuku. There were many young people from all over the world, down this crowded street.
Kei led us to a building that was incredibly bright and loud- not American loud, cute, high pitched Japanese loud. This whole country is so darn cute. I remember watching TV with Kei and noticing how every commercial had a little cartoon animal selling things as opposed to the sexy and cool American commercials.
Anyways, this building was full of photo booths! They weren’t just any photo booths though. These were more like computer games, that automatically edited your face to make your skin clearer and your eyelashes bigger. Kei said it was “Japanese magic”. Then, you add writing/glitter/hearts/has/sunglasses/whatever to your pictures, and it prints out your pictures as stickers! It was actually a lot of fun.
Art Gallery in Harajuku
Then, we wandered around to a super colorful art gallery. Kei explained that artists from all over the world decorated it, and showed there. Krista- you would have loved it.
At the end of the day, we went to the baseball game to see the Tokyo Swallows. The game was hilarious. We had great seats right behind the dugout. In true American form, Catherine and I cheered our American cheers- screaming at the players. The English players on the team definitely heard us, and I think they enjoyed our obnoxious cheering and off key renditions of “Take me our to the ballgame”. I’m pretty sure Kei was embarrassed, but we eventually got the people around us to join in.
At the game, there are girls that carry kegs on their backs selling beer. There are also cheer captains in front of every section that whistle a tune, and everyone repeats it by clapping.
When the Swallows make a good play, everyone whips out these mini vinyl unbrellas and does a little dance with them. It’s hilarious.
It was definitely an experience.
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