Tokyo-Day 4

One of the things I love about traveling is seeing the differences between cultures in everyday life. I love taking pictures of the random things we see that illustrate those differences. 

We saw lots of cars parked double-decker in residential areas. Space is a premium in Tokyo so this is how they get more cars in tight spaces.

There are vending machines ALL OVER Japan. We were told that there is 1 vending machine for every 5 people in the country. That amounts to millions of vending machines! Most of the machines sell drinks only. The kids loved getting different drinks to try every day. The only thing that was familiar to us was an occasional Coke. Most drinks were unique to Japan.

There are funny signs everywhere! We love this one on an elevator:

Carter and Allen loved this one and had to reenact the "Clash"

Our first stop of the morning was at the Sensoji temple which is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. This is the gateway to enter into the grounds and called "Thunder Gate." We love the iconic and huge lantern in the background

We didn't see too many people dressed in traditional Japanese clothing but saw a few at the market outside the temple. When I stopped these girls to get their pictures, they were so thrilled and loved talking to me about living in America. On a side note, I LOVED people watching in Japan, particularly seeing how the women dress. They dress immaculately in beautifully tailored clothes. It was such a treat to see! Beautiful bags, shoes, clothing and coats. I was in clothing heaven!

This is the 5 story pagoda inside the gates and it is actually a Shinto shrine.

The cleansing fountain before entering the shrine:

The ceiling of the shrine

Interior of the shrine where the monks were leading the people in prayer:

Inside the shrine was quite dark and most of my pictures did not turn out but it was so fascinating. There were lots of differences between the Japanese and Sri Lankan Buddhist shrines. A couple of the things we loved were getting to pick our fortunes from a huge array of drawers that correspond to a randomly drawn stick. There was also a pagoda filled with incense that when breathed in helped keep evil spirits away.

We loved visiting the shrine and seeing the beautiful and intricate art and religious beliefs in practice.

After visiting the shrine we boarded a boat to take a cruise down the Tokyo river. The river is lined with cherry trees and it was amazing to see the beautiful blossoms along the river. Our crew on the boat:

It was an overcast and chilly day but the blossoms were beautiful:

I loved seeing the replicas of traditional ships along the river:

One of the fun things about this trip is all of the modes of transportation we used to get around Tokyo. We rode in an airplane, took trains, busses, cabs, subways, car, rode on a boat and rode bikes all within the week we were there. Such a fun memory! Here we are crammed onto a bus to go to another stop. 

In front of the Hachiko statue in Tokyo. The story is that this dog waited for his owner for 9 years at this train station after he died. It was a really popular spot and lots of people were taking pictures. 

After a long day on our feet we headed back to the hotel for dinner and some swim time.

We caught a late night bus back to the air force base after 3 days in downtown Tokyo!