Tokyo Day 5: Marunouchi, Shibuya, Harajuku

Our fifth day in Tokyo was cold and windy!  After watching the sun rise, we started out visiting the Imperial Palace in Marunouchi.  Afterwards we went back to Shibuya and crossed Hachiko Crossing a bunch of times.  It is just so impressive and intimidating and amazing!  We then walked down to Omote-sando and had brunch at Fujimama's.  The food was fantastic: coconut french toast with banana-almond butter with an apple spiced with cinnamon lemonade.  We then went to check out the Japanese cosplayers in Harajuku.  It was really cold, but there were still some people out there.  Around the corner from there was Meiji Shrine.  Massive wooden torii gate leads down a long path.  While at the Shrine we saw a traditional Shinto wedding procession taking place and we learned that the 3 torii gates reduce the shock of going from the physical side to the divine side.  We observed how prayers are done: 1) throw coins into slots, 2) bow twice, 3) clap twice, and 4) pray then bow once.  Afterwards we went in a couple stores to check it out.  Kiddyland was the best - I loved it there!  It is definitely something important to see!  Since it was really cold, we decided to go back to the hotel and have an early dinner at a place called Local India to get our fill of tasty naan bread.  All-in-all, a nice casual day.

 

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