Shibuya Days, Roppongi Nights

Tokyo is home to over thirty shrines. Despite this, religion in Japan isn’t as prevalent as it would seem. Less than half of the population of Japan identifies with an organized religion, be it Buddhism, Shinto sects, or Christianity.

The shrines are beautiful and well maintained though. My favorite one we visited was Meiji Shrine.  Located in Shibuya, this Shinto Shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife.

One of the main reasons I liked it was because it was in the middle of an 170 acre forest. There are numerous pathways to walk and parks to relax in.

I also learned what this gate means. It’s called a Torii  and it marks the transition from the profane to the sacred.

At the entrance of the shrine is a wash basin to wash hands and mouth (cleansing body and mind) before entering. At the window of the shrine, you can bow, clap twice, and bow again, offering a prayer and coin.

Next we headed to Asakusa market, a common tourist attraction. This place was a mad house, but very fun to people watch.

It also was the location of Sensoji, an ancient Buddhist temple. It’s the oldest temple in Tokyo and one of its most significant.

These two shrines were most likely very crowded on New Year’s Eve. In Japan, instead of partying all night, thousands of people will visit shrines at midnight for Hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

At this shrine, you can pay a coin and get a fortune. Sadly, we both received pretty depressing ones.

I love this photo purely for the look of disgust on the man to my left.

All that walking made us hungry so we headed back to Shibuya for sushi. I got to walk through the famous Shibuya Crossing, which is a crazy scramble of people in a huge intersection.

We went to a fun restaurant where you sit down in front of a screen and conveyor belt. You order what you want and it zooms out to you, freshly made. SO good. It was just one of the amazing places we stopped to eat during my trip. I’ll never forget the best bowl of ramen I’ve ever had.

Our one night out was in Roppongi. Here we started at a ‘british style pub’ where we had a few beers. A chinese business man joined us for a bit and spoke English very well, but he insisted he didn’t.

Side Note: For you uber-cheesy tourists, there is a Hard Rock Cafe here! I’ve been getting my dad shirts from every location I go to this past year. 

Afterwards we headed to Motown House, a favorite spot of my friend’s. We had an amazing time dancing like crazy Americans and dazzling all the drunken patrons with our skills. This is the only photo taken, because I JUST WANTED TO DANCE!!!

Side Note: I have heard mixed reviews for Motown House. While our experience was successful, others have reported being drugged and robbed. Please be wary at any bar in a foreign country. Watch who makes your drink and never leave it unattended.

Let me tell you, teaching a Japanese man to bachata is no easy task.

 

1989 Mother Tour – DC to TN

This summer was non-stop traveling for me, but my favorite bit was the 15 days I spent on the road with my Mom.

I was planning a move of my car (and most of my possessions) from D.C. to Oregon in preparation for my move to South Korea and I was in desperate need of a co-pilot.

Nothing could have surprised me more than my mother offering to drive with me. She is not a road tripper, a camper, a spelunker,nor a night-life-er….but in spite of it all, she was stoked to come along! Honestly, there’s no one that deserved to be my co-pilot more. She has spent over half her life raising three kids, which means she basically hasn’t had a real vacation in about thirty years. So my brilliant plan was to reignite her artistic passion, as well as open her eyes to the beauty and wonder of road trips as she enters the wonderful era of retirement.

My mother is an incredible painter, but due to life, kids, marriage, etc., she stopped. I’ve written her notes (many many notes) with tiny assignments for each day we travel, and a travel paint set. Each day we will paint whatever inspires us on the road. – I posted our art on my tumblr, where you can see the color versions.

Given the fact that this trip covers a two week period, I’ll be splitting it up by State. Otherwise, this post would take two weeks to read. Why 1989? Well, Miss Swift’s 1989 album was pretty much our jam the whole trip….

---

DAY ONE

As you know, road trips are never short of snags along the way, luckily mine tend to happen in the beginning. My mom’s flight got delayed, rerouted, and delayed again. Finally, after nearly a full 24 hours of flying, she arrived at Ronald Reagan-Washington National Airport and straight into my very eager arms for a long overdue hug.

I would’ve loved to show her around the city I had grown to like-a-lot-but-I-wouldn’t-say-love, but I wanted to spend our wiggle room in California with my sister and nephew, which meant, staying on schedule until then. (i hate schedules)

My poor mother didn’t know what she signed up for when I said I’d show her my favorite spots. You see, you walk everywhere in D.C. It wasn’t until she was roasting hot and nearly panting that I realized that I’d made her walk over 20 blocks before lunch. She wasn’t complaining though, she loves architecture and bookshops as much as I do. I might have suggested tennis shoes though…

---

Day Two – We left bright and early, drove through Virginia, and ended up in Friendsville, Tennessee (just outside of Knoxville).

If you’ve read past posts, you may remember me mentioning this Tennessee location.
I stopped here on my way up from Florida, Fall 2013.If there is a more relaxing and tranquil place in North America, I doubt it compares to this. We considered scrapping the whole trip and moving in. You know you’ve found a great friend when you can nap on the couch, even though you haven’t seen each other in two years.

Three days in, I already had my first injury. Turns out being pushed into the lake isn’t all fun and games, but meh, it wasn’t my driving foot!

---

Day Three–Reluctantly, we set off  from our  haven of bliss with our gracious hosts.
We stopped in Nashville for lunch and a little sight-seeing. I bet you didn’t know Nashville has the only full-scale replica of The Parthenon in Athens…It functions as an art museum now, but it began as an exhibit as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition. It was a nice break from the hot day in the car.

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe (we were getting my dad shirts from every one we passed on the trip) and walked around downtown listening to live musicians while wishing we could afford the amazing boots.

We ended the day in Memphis, staying in our very first AirBnb.
-side note- The whole business of renting your room/house/condo out to a complete stranger sounds insane to me. Thankfully, they weren’t ax murderers and we weren’t planning to rob them blind. They were incredibly nice! They even typed out a full list of restaurants, music clubs, etc. in their area for us. However, there is a huge amount of mutual trust involved when using AirBnb, especially since no information is required besides a Facebook account. So, while I do highly recommend the adventure and convenience of AirBnb, be smart and make sure the people you are going to stay with are real people. 

We had grand plans to go out that night and listen to live music on the Mississippi, but…I was lame. I had been driving all day and could barely keep my eyes open. My wonderful mother understood and said we could stay in and watch Netflix. It would’ve been the perfect stay had I not made the mistake of getting late night sushi.
Never again.

Me – 14 hours logged
Mom- 0

Read the next post for New Orleans!!