The saint who works no cures has few visitors to his shrine

It was BRIGHT and HOT today! The boys love their new umbrellas - lucky for us they work in both the sweltering heat, and the sudden rain storms.





Today's adventure took us to the Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) in Shibuya. Straight from Wikipedia, "Meiji Jingu is the Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. When Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and Empress Shōken in 1914, the Japanese people wished to pay their respects to the two influential Japanese figures. It was for this reason that Meiji Shrine was constructed and their souls enshrined on November 1, 1920."




It's an extremely popular destination for tourists and locals alike. One step into its 175 acres of forested peace, and you'll understand why. Shibuya and nearby Harujuku are as crowded and busy as any Manhattan street corner (yeah, like I would know, but have heard), and the perfect contrast of bustle with peace and serenity make this an easy way to get away from it all.





One of the sights I enjoyed the most was on the path leading to the shrine. On the right side of the path is a towering display of all types of sake barrels, that have been donated to the shrine by countrywide sake makers. This is not the real reason, but I imagine that they are there so that the deified Emperor and Empress can party and entertain into eternity. Due to Emperor Meiji's welcoming of most things Western to include ideas, fashions, and politics, he cultivated famous European friendships (and domestic enemies - but that's another lesson). So, in addition to the sake barrels dedicated to their afterlife, on the left side of the path was an equally impressive display of wine casks donated by the finest winemakers in Bourgogne, France. The Emperor and Empress can also entertain their dead European pals who prefer the grape to the rice kernel.






An equally touching and unique sight are the prayer placards placed in front of the shrine. Prayers from people and cultures from around the world (mostly Japanese, though) are hung for everyone to see, and hopefully be answered. I left Chris alone there for about 5 mins when I went to fetch David (he had again decided he was done walking). When David and I returned to the shrine, Chris said, "Hey, do you want to see what I prayed for?" Since the placards cost 500 yen (about 5 USD), and he didn't have any money, I was sure I needed to remit payment thinking he had "appropriated" a placard without paying. He directed me past the place where the placards were hanging, and straight to the tables where people wrote the placards before hanging them. And there plain as day, written on the table itself was Christopher's prayer: "Dear God, Please let me live forever, and learn this crazy talk. Love, Chris in Japan." So, my son wants to learn Japanese.

Ja Mata! (thank you Erickson Sensei for correcting my romanized spelling of this phrase. Now just relax and enjoy the blog, please)