Another wet day in Tokyo, but it was no time to worry about the rain as we set off to visit one of Tokyo’s most famous Shinto shrines, dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Located in a forested area, it offers a serene and spiritual retreat from the bustling city.

The shrine was completed in 1920 following the death of the emperor to honour his role in modernising the country and leading it through the Meiji Restoration.

The shrine is surrounded by a 70 hectare forest with trees planted from all over Japan. The path leading to the shrine is marked by large wooden torii gates, symbolising the transition from the everyday world to the sacred.

Many visitors come to the shrine to pray for good health, fortune or success. We asked for all three to cover our bases!

Seeking our fortune and future success with a request and donation to the shrine.

Once we stepped into this shrine precinct, we forgot about are the hustle & bustle of the city, and started to immerse into the Japanese traditional scene in amongst all the wonderful greenery of the gardens and woodland.

After visiting the main sanctuary and museum, we headed to the Inner Botanical Garden. This was once Imperial Property and was commissioned by Emperor Meiji in part for Empress Shoken. 

In amongst the Inner garden, we visited the Iris garden and Kiyomasa’s well, which are both surrounded by bonsai trees and lakes. These are all set out as they were during the days of the Emperor.

Emperor Meiji encouraged the technological development of many domestic industries, including the sake production industry, as part of the modernization of Japan. These straw-covered sake barrels are offered to Meiji Jingu annually by the members of the Meiji Jingu Nationwide Sake Brewers Association. The brewers make this donation to show their deep respect for the enshrined souls of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

The barrels, which are decorative and empty, are offered to the kami deities along with the sake in bottles.

After our visit to Yoyogi Park, we wandered down through Harajuku towards Shibuya, walking past the numerous retail stores and malls, including Shibuya 109, which is a hub for cutting edge Japanese fashion.

From there it was a subway ride to Roppongi Hills, a major urban development featuring shops, restaurants and art spaces.

We were keen to immerse ourselves in some contemporary art and purchased tickets to visit Mori Art Museum at the top of the Mori Tower on the 47th floor.

Here we had the bonus of stunning views from the Tokyo City View observation deck.

The Mori museum was displaying works by Louise Bourgeois whose work we had previously seen in the Tate Modern in London about 15yrs ago. Louise’s work is notable for her huge Crouching Spider sculpture that was displayed outside the gallery.

Once inside we witnessed the full spread of work that Louise had carried out in her lifetime, which was varied in style and scale and charts the uneasy relationships the artist had with her parents & offspring, and subsequently her husband and three sons. It proved a very interesting and evocative display of art and the emotions that went into her work as she battled mental health issues and anxiety.

We had a really enjoyable time and were impressed by the diversity of the works on display.

Last stop was a visit to Tokyo Tower, a similar looking building to a certain Parisian structure. It was all lit up from a far, acting as a beacon to the incoming tourists.

We had purchased a ticket that took us to the 150m platform that offered great views across Tokyo. When built in the 1950’s this was the tallest building in Tokyo and Japan.

We made the most of our evening views, staying up the tower for almost an hour engrossed by the world below in downtown Tokyo.

Once back in Shinjuku, we had a short walk to our hotel and on the way came across a large truck with pictures of the host boys advertising their services….only in Japan.

Tomorrow we are off to Shibuya to witness the crossing, views from the sky tower and take in the maze of shopping malls and unique stores, with the evening entertainment being a visit to a sumo match and restaurant.