Hey look at that, a Denny’s right outside our hotel!
Some urban greenery on our way to Tsukiji
Cool van! Yeah, we don’t really have those…
Tsukiji Fish Market!
You know it’s good when there’s a line, this is a famous onigiri (rice balls with ingredients) stall. Everything is very fresh, they get fresh fish from the fishermen every morning and prepare it that morning.
Tamagoyaki (sweet egg omelette that is very fluffy) Only cost 300 yen ($3.00) for two of them.
They have some wild foods here. Flattened fried squid!
Marking our way across Tokyo, being annoying tourists. There is a big buddhist temple/ museum here.
On our way to the Gotokuji Temple, or the Lucky Cat temple. It’s on the east side of the Tokyo metro. Lucky Cat statue spotted, we must be getting close.
Gotokuji Temple/ Lucky Cat Shrine!
SO MANY LUCKY CATS. You can buy these at the shrine and either leave it at the shrine or take it with you. It is for prayers for good fortune. We took ours with us. You can also pray at the shrine, you give a donate, ring the bell and pray so that your prayer carries up to the gods.
These are prayer plaques, or Ema, located at the shrine. You buy them, write your prayers or wishes on the back and put them there so that the gods located at that location grant them. they have rabbits on them this year because it is the year of the rabbit. There are family graveyards there that are still taken care of by family members, if you aren’t family, you can’t go see them.
Making our way downtown to Shibuya. Apparently that donut shop is very popular, we didn’t have the chance to get anything.
Next stop: Meiji Jingu shrine! It is the largest shrine located in Tokyo, very famous. There is a lot of walking to get to the main building. When walking up the path, you see the sake barrels which are a gift to the Emperor of Japan, they also have barrels of wine from when the French taught them how to make those. The flowers are Chrysanthemum, which are part of the imperial seal of Japan. We saw some amazing bonsai. The main temple was huge. Also during this time there was something going on called Shichi-Go-San, which is traditional Japanese rite where you take your 7/5/3 year old to the shrines to pray in a ceremony for good health. Super cute seeing all the little girls and boys running around in kimonos/traditional wear.
Quite the large area and long walk
Make our way towards food, spot a classic Mini!
Coco Curry, easy to customize.
Wandering through another shrine, waiting for our Tokyo Tower time slot. Zōjō-ji is a large Buddhist temple. The first picture is Matt purifying himself, which you should do for every temple and shrine. We didn’t take photos inside because they ask you not to but it was beautiful, the floor was like glass. In there you can light incense and pray. Tokyo tower is in the background. We then sat in a large park to rest, our feet were killing us at this point. It was nice.
Pretty sure we were in the background of these girls’ livestream.
Wandering closer to the tower.
First level of Tokyo Tower. The main observation level.
Looking down at the shrine and lawn we were just at, the circle.
As the sun sets, we’re presented with the majesty of Mt. Fuji. This was on the very top of the tower.
And the bright city below, asian hearts just for Claire.
Random things in the area
Very pretty at night, fun fact, around the city they specifically have places that people line up to take photos of the tower.
Pokemon Center DX, Tokyo
And finally, back to the hotel to relax after a very long day, we were very tired and our feet hurt very much.