Two days in Tokyo
During my stay in Tokyo, I had 2 days to explore the city - the weekend with no work assignments. My first stop was something that has nothing to do with Tokyo - Stradivarius exhibit in Mori arts center in Roppongi. It almost perfectly overlapped with my stay and it’s something I really enjoyed. Later that day I went to Samurai museum in Shinjuku area. Museum has weapons and armors that were really used and some replicas and costumes you can play with. There are tours available in English and Japanese and tour guides will teach you about history and culture of samurai-age Japan. Guide I had was very knowledgeable and ready to answer questions my group had (now I know difference between ken and katana). There is also actor performing as a Samurai and one of visitors get’s to learn how to act in samurai fight scenes.
Next day was reserved for more serene parts of Japan - one garden and a few temples. I started with Hamarikyu gardens in Chūō-ku, where I got the chance to see 300 year old pine. Pine was planted by the sixth Shogun and grows as magnificent tree today. There is traditional tea house as well as show-house that explains how grounds were used in ancient times. Part of the gardens was for falconry and duck hunting, and another part was used by shogun to entertain their guests. Walking around gardens is amazing, and you can walk between flowery grove, over the pond, over the low hills and in forests. The map of the gardens includes which flowers are booming in each month, which is useful if you want to make sure you see them all.
Next stop was nearby (to the garden) Atago shrine. Walk took me through portion of the city that looked very European and it was outlier compared to the rest of the city in architecture.
This was my first time visiting Shinto temple, and it’s good one to visit first - it’s temple established on the order of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun. Temple is located at the top of the hill and to reach it you need to climb very steep and very long stairs. They are called “success stairs” and there is a belief that whoever climbs those stairs and comes down will have success in life. Shrine has temples to several gods and it looks very beautiful. It’s located in the middle of the city, but once you are up there there is no trace of city around you. If it were not for people, it would be hard to guess the epoch - there is no view of skyline and I saw some pretty chill dog (that I felt obligated to take photo of) and I got my fortune read (not that I believe in that sort of the thing). When it was a time to leave, there were those stairs again. Going down was much more daunting than going up, as the view of going down is much more scary than a view going up.
Zōjō-ji, major Buddhist temple close to Tokyo tower, was next on my list. It’s walking distance from Atago shrine. Shrine is grand and it dominates the view, even with the nearby Daimon and Tokyo tower standing behind. It seems that most of the people present are not the people who worship but tourists.
Given that it was October, by the time I was done with this temple it was almost dark. I only had time to go to to briefly visit Hie Shrine, but it was too dark to take any good photos of it and I was already too tired to absorb the experience.
Japan is awesome and full of temples, especially Buddhist and Shinto (surprise surprise). I wanted to see some Christian churches/cathedrals as well but I did not have enough time. I also did not have time to visit more museums, something which will definitely be on my todo list next time I visit Tokyo (and I’m definitely coming there again).
