Japan 4 - Tokyo

Thursday, 14 May 2026

A full day in Tokyo. Tokyo is overwhelming. I wonder how they make the skyscrapers earthquake-resistant. And yet there are also large green swathes of green: parks, palaces, shrines, and temples.

The view out our hotel room (Capitol Hotel Tokyu). The room included a "Skyline View" map that identified all the major buildings and landmarks.

Our first stop on today's tour was the Sumida Hokusai Museum - a small museum showcasing the work of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).

Hokusai's most famous work is "Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa", from Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji. Like most of the museums we visited on this trip, we could have used more time here to see everything.

Aoyama District

Aoyama is a high-end shopping street in Tokyo. If you're not into internationally famous names in fashion (Gucci, Prada, etc.), more down-to-earth shops can be found just off Ometasando Street. (We grabbed an iconic fast-food Japanese lunch at the 7-11 behind the Apple Store.)

Ometesando Hills is a high-end mall in Aoyama. It's interesting spiral-ramped architecture spreads over several blocks. While it's only 20 years old, its exterior screams a 1960s NASA-style facade.

Meiji-jingu

We entered the Meiji Shrine from a side entrance that leads to the bus parking lot. Even before passing through the torii that separates sacred and profane, we encountered the wall of sake casks.

One of the few torii we saw that was not painted orange or red (vermillion).

A second torii as we approached the inner shrine.

The washstand.

Two camphor trees pruned to appear as one. Most large Shinto shrines have at least one camphor tree.

A cloud-lighting-rain rope is strung between the two trees.

The amulet/tablet rack is beneath another camphor tree.

The avenue down to the main entrance to the Meiji Shrine.