Tuesday June 23

Today’s learning experiences centered around the Japanese culture as we embarked on a tour of Tokyo. Meeting up at the hotel a little before 8 AM, we were transported from the Keio Plaza Hotel to Hamamatsu-cho Bus Terminal to meet our tour bus from Hata Bus Company (The Yellow Bus Guys!) Our tour guide Haruko (“Harry”) kept us informed the entire trip about the various sites we were seeing and going to during the 4 hour tour.

Our first stop was the Meiji Shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife. He was Emperor from 1868 to 1912 and was the main catalyst in opening Japan’s doors to outside influences. The Shrine is home to the largest Torii Gate in Japan (Otorii) which is made of cypress wood from a HUGE tree brought to Japan from Taiwan. After we participated in the traditional water purification ceremony, we proceeded into the temple grounds. Our Guide informed us of many of the traditions associated with the Shrine, perhaps the most interesting being the small dents found on the front side of the six pillars in front of the ‘altar’ area. These dents are from coins people throw toward the offering box during the New Year since they are not able to get close due to crowd sizes.
More to follow about the Imperial Gardens, Asakusa, and the Ginza - our schedule is packed!

After visiting the Meijii Shrine our bused guided us to the Imperial Gardens near the newly renovated Tokyo Train Station.  The Gardens has been recently opened to the public.  It was a nice and quiet walk through some very beautiful grounds allowing us to get up close and personal with some of the walls that were built centuries ago.

Following up our appearance at the Imperial Gardens we proceeded to Asakusa and the famous Temple site.  The temple has been rebuilt numerous times becasue of fires, but still looks majestic.  This was the last official stop of our tour.  Gwen, Nicole, and Olive decided to stay and explore the area while Paul and Michael stayed with the Bus which dropped them off in the Ginza.

The tour was a reasonable way to see some of the sites of Tokyo (saw lots more from the bus too), without fighting too many crowds or getting drained by the heat.