Day 3

Another late start today after last night's Sensoji temple photo session. We stepped outside to find that it's still raining; weather forecasts predict near constant rain until we leave Tokyo. We had a completely non-traditional Japanese breakfast of toast, eggs and coffee, in a rather nice looking coffee house, before quickly heading off towards Meiji Shrine. We heard that there would be a traditional Japanese dancing performance. After getting lost a few times on the trains, we eventually found our way to the entrance to the shrine area.

Yeah yeah, but where's the entrance?

I should note that Meiji shrine is set within the larger Yoyogi park. Even considering this, stepping into the forest that are the shrine grounds seemed to completely remove us from the hustle & bustle of the city. The towering wooden beams which constitute the Torii (gate) clearly mark out the entrance. The dancing was performed in a side building away from the main complex. It's difficult to describe traditional Japanese music, better to hear it for yourself, but the instrumentation is sparse. The dancing was more like a theatrical play, the meaning of which we were left to infer given the narration was in Japanese and it was largely mimed.

Dancers/actors on the left, small orchestra on the right

The main shrine complex itself is stunning, and very peaceful. After completing the washing ritual (temizu) outside the main shrine complex we had a wander around the courtyard and associated buildings, but a certain amount is not accessible because the main buildings of the shrine are in use. A man sweeps the leaves away with a broom made of twigs while the shinto priests come and go. As with all such places in Japan, smartly dressed guards wearing white gloves keep a watchful eye on the tourists.

The front entrance to the temple courtyard

The main shrine in the temple complex. The trees either side are surrounded with wishes written on wooden boards.

Afterwards we headed north to investigate the nearby martial arts dojo. Again access was not permitted, but we could see through the gratings a kendo class in one building and an archery class in another. Adjacent to the dojo was a museum full of portraits and belongings of the Japanese emperors, especially emperor Meiji. There wasn't a great deal of English text and photos were forbidden, however there was a complete translation of the Imperial rescript on Education, the content of which I am particularly fond.

In two side of A4 Emperor Meiji has summarised all the laudible behaviours it took others entire books to describe. And he shrunk the margins.

We were getting pretty hungry so we caught a train to Shinjuku and searched for a place to eat. I particularly wanted rice (having not yet had any), and we stumbled upon a narrow 8 floor building wherein every floor was a different style of restaurant (Chinese, Korean, etc.). We went to the 6th floor, which seemed to be the Japanese style restaurant, and entered what initially looked to be a sauna. Turning a sharp corner a corridor came into view with booths along both sides. Removing our shoes and leaving our umbrellas with the waitress we were guided to the first booth on the left. The seating was a flat square bench with a table in the centre and space beneath for our legs. The waitress brought us two chilled drinks and moist hand towels. By this point we had exchanged enough words to be fairly convinced that the waitress knew no more English than we did Japanese. The waitress motioned to the menus, said something extremely polite-sounding and left, carefully pulling the slide door closed. The booth was dark and only the table was down-lit. Light jazz played in the background. Somehow we were sheltered from the buzz of the city.

"WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE AND TELL ME WHERE THE DIAMONDS ARE!!!!!"

The drinks brought to us were chilled coffee; very strange to my sensitivities, however smooth and not especially offensive either. Thankfully one of the menus had pictures and when the waitress returned we were somehow able to navigate an exchange of information using only body language and that ever important phrase "futatsu biru" (2 beers). After a short wait we were delivered with exceptionally pretty meals consisting of miso soup (of course), beef and fishcake with rice, spinach, and salad, and a dessert in the form of a soya bean curd with strawberry jam. The beef was divine and the entire meal was wonderful. Even the soya bean dessert, of which I am usually rather skeptical, tasted creamy an smooth. This lunch was a strange and rather wonderful experience. Ed noted that there seems not to be any English equivalent of this boothed dining. I imagine such an ambience might be good for entertaining an important client, or perhaps for a date (though there's no obvious escape route ;p ).

Wonderfully presented and delicious Japanese food.

Afterwards we briefly investigated Shinjuku Times Square but, like all Time Square's, it's basically a giant department store and we left to wander around Shinjuku some more. Getting pretty tired we headed back to the hostel for a break. Later at night we went out for ramen. Mmm, I love ramen, so delicious, so cheap, so filling, and so easy to find out here. Like pros we walked in, bought our tickets from the vending machine, and handed them to chef. Unfortunately I made the rookie mistake of pouring my sauce into the bowl with my noodles, rather than dipping my noodles into the sauce. Ore wa Baka!

On the way home I decided to sponsor Haagen-dazs to make more absurd adverts by purchasing a 'crepe glace'. We saw a video advert on the train for this product earlier. The geisha is busy wrapping a glass jar of strawberries in cloth when she is distracted by the floating glace being wrapped in crepe. She takes a bite and smiles. I think the message of this advert is "this ice cream is preferable to doing my chores". I can confirm that the ice cream is indeed preferable to doing chores. Just.

Tomorrow we're getting up early to go to Kamakura to see the Daibutsu (giant buddha), and hopefully do some hiking if the rain eases off a little! Arigato gozaimasu for reading. Jya mata!