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From Tokyo Tower to Yasakuni via Temples

Apr 23, 2006 by Javantea

April 15, 2006

This one took a while to make it into my blog (yes, I'm self-censoring), so here it is. I spent the day with my good friend. He's my father's age. We went to a bunch of places. First stops were Tokyo Tower, a Buddhist temple next door, the graveyard behind the temple, and a few notable temples. The Buddhist temple was extremely interesting. They were praying for a person who had passed away a few years ago. The Buddhist priests prayed in a song that was very moving. My friend is a Buddhist and prays everyday.

We went to the highest ground point in Tokyo which is a comical 26 meters. It's kinda funny geographical spot because it has a 26 meter tall stairway and is only large enough for a big temple and nothing else. He educated me on various things including Shinto ancestor-worship, the meaning of things, who owns what, how, and why every building in Tokyo is tall: municipal code requirement. He showed me how to pray at various temples although I couldn't do it correctly because I was too self-conscious. We went to a bunch of awesome koi ponds, certainly the best public koi ponds in Tokyo. I noticed a trio of high school boys throwing rocks at the koi proving once and for all that neither Japanese nor American boys are saints.

We went to the Emperial Palace and saw the place where the 47 samurai committed harikari. It is an actual spot and I stood there for a moment (wow). I also sat where the palace used to be during the Tokugawa era (wow).