Travels in Japan: Tokyo

Jessica and I visited Tokyo in November of 2024, and I am just writing about it now. A few reasons for this; 1. life/work in December and January was very busy, so much less time for writing; and 2. I haven’t had the proper time to reflect on the trip. I think that is because we went to Tokyo a month after Macchu Picchu (lucky, I know) and I was still basking in the memories of that trip. Now life has slowed enough to look back and share pictures of a truly awesome and inspiring trip to the biggest city in the world, Tokyo, Japan!

I kept a journal while on our visit; the older we get, the less likely we are to go out late into the evening, so after a long day of sightseeing, train hopping, and walking, walking, walking, it was nice to relax in our small hotel room and write about the days’ activities. Jessica wrote about our trip planning and first day here; the flight was really long, and it took a lot longer than our previous, European travel, to adjust to the time difference.

We spent our first day in the Koto neighborhood in Tokyo, enjoying a tour led by a local professor/guide named Manami. She grew up in the neighborhood and still lives there; we liked her soft spoken, non nonsense attitude, as she showed us the Fukagawa Fudou-dō Buddhist Temple and we joined the Edo-period Fire Ceremony carried on by the monks of the Temple and they even blessed our bags!

Manami explained some of the differences between the Buddhist and Shinto shrines; to oversimplify, Buddhism is focused more on the afterlife, while Shintoism is centered on the present. They don’t compete as much as compliment each other; the below Shinto shrine, while small, was just to the right of the above Buddhist temple:

She told us how many Japanese utilize both the shrines, depending on the wish or hope. For example, a person may go for blessings for a new born baby at a Buddhist shrine, and make an offering at a Shinto shrine for hope of a work promotion. Manami showed us how to bow and make a small offering at Shinto shrines (bow twice, clap twice, bow once), which we did at every shrine we encountered.

We were at the shrine during a Japanese holiday called “Festival of Ages”. We were were not sure what that meant exactly (and it is not the same as the festival in Kyoto of the same name). In Tokyo, Manami told us it was quite literal. They would celebrate children of a young age, and usually the girls would dress in kimonos; and the family would celebrate at the local shrine. Manami told us about the festival when she was a child and we saw many little kids dressed up, as seen in the photo below. We would see many more the next day is Asakusa.

It is important to note not to walk down the center of the path leading to the entrance of either shrines, best to walk on the outside as the center path is reserved for deities and spirits. She also showed us the beautiful little books that the shrines often sell. Many Shinto shrines have someone working who will mark a page in the book with the shrine name, date of visit, and any logo/marking of the shrine. We bought one book at the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine, which is Manami’s local shrine.

The shrine is famous for Sumo, and in the rear are shrines to former Sumo Masters. It was a very relaxed tour, and we learned a lot, without being overwhelmed. After we left Manami we headed for the Izakaya street we had passed earlier in our tour. Izakayas are small bars that have only 5-6 seats; they are often found amongst other Izakaya; there is a famous section of them near our hotel in Shinjuku called Golden Gai, but they can be found all over Tokyo, if one knows where to look.

We ordered a few beers and hung out there for a couple hours. We made a fast friend named Wilson, an Indonesian man living in Japan who had previously studied in Chicago. We ended up going to dinner with him and ate a ton of unique food at a local restaurant. Jessica goes into more detail on our food in her post. It was such a fun time talking and eating and drinking with Wilson. We were sad to part ways after our satisfying meal, but so it goes when traveling!

More Tokyo to come!