We stayed at The New Sanno Hotel. A US Naval Joint Facility that is open to military ID holders and their guests. It's a wonderful facility.
The First stop was Tokyo Tower. A tower built to replicate the Eiffel Tower and was used for radio and television transmission until recently. Below are my pictures from the middle section of the tower.
Excuse my reflection.
You can see Mount Fuji in the background.
Unusually clear day.
The second stop on the Tokyo tour was the Meiji Jingu Shrine. This is a Shinto Shrine and they believe that Emporer Meiji and his wife are deities of the shrine. It is a place for weddings and children are brought to the shrine soon after birth to give thanks to the deities for the child. Then boys are brought back when they are 3 and 7 years old, 'to show the deities how the boys are doing and to give offering. Girls are brought back at 5 years old for the same. When these children return to the shrine they are usually dressed in traditional kimono's.
Then comes a place where you purify your hands and your mouth physically prior to going to give offering to the gods.
This is the Main Shrine and we were asked not to take pictures of the people worshiping. "You may throw some coins into the Offering Box if you wish. In the front of the Main Shrine, you bow twice, clap your hands twice, then give your prayer or thanks, then bow once again.
Read the directions above for the prayer/wishes tablets. It was interesting that the majority of those I could read were prayers of gratitude.
Here is a little girl coming to the Shrine to be presented to the gods.
There was a wedding couple there when we were, I felt weird taking their picture so this is from the web. The couple I saw looked almost exactly like this.
Until I get to the next set of pictures!
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