On our second day in Tokyo, we visited many places in Tokyo.
Can you guess the first place we visited...?
When we get off Hiroo Station, take left and walk up the street, there it is! Can you see "it" in this busy residential area of Tokyo...?
Yes! We visited the LDS Tokyo Japan Temple! (So, we learned that its official name is the Tokyo Japan Temple..., not the Tokyo Temple.)
It is located in one of the most expensive areas in Tokyo! This temple is very small without any garden around it... except for this area right in front of the entrance of the temple:
Tokyo Japan Temple was the first temple to be built in Asia! It was dedicated by President Kimball in 1980, and the statute of the angel Moroni was added in 2004.
Can you see how it is right in the middle of a residential area, right next to a busy street, surrounded by all those houses and apartment buildings? But oh, the excitement and the joy you feel when you spot the angel Moroni in this busy world that we live in!
Across from the temple, there is this beautiful park called Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park. Whenever we visit the Tokyo Japan Temple, we love to spend some time in this park.
When we lived in Kyoto before Yuki started elementary school, Kyoto Stake arranged a Stake Temple trip once every couple of months. Our Stake rented a night bus for members, and we all came to the temple together. We left Kyoto at night and arrived at the temple in the morning. While parents went to the temple, children played at this park and waited for their parents.
They also have this beautiful Japanese garden at this park.
And we saw many koi fish!
After spending some time at the Tokyo Japan Temple and at Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park, we went to see Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower was built in 1958 as a broadcast antenna and it was the tallest building in Japan until Tokyo Skytree was built in 2012. We decided to visit Tokyo Tower this time, because we have been to Tokyo Skytree before.
It was modeled after the Eiffel Tower... Can you see the resemblance!?
We went up to the main observatory of Tokyo Tower and enjoyed the view of Tokyo!
We were not really expecting anything from Tokyo Tower, but seeing all those buildings after buildings was actually very fun! We stayed there a lot longer than we originally planned! On a clear day, you can see Mount Fuji from Tokyo Tower, but we couldn't see it that day. :/
We found a very small, modern-looking shrine at the main observatory of Tokyo Tower! It was built in 1977 to pray for the health of those involved with Tokyo Tower and for the prosperity of its business...
Here is how to pray when you are at the shrine:
There was a "look-down window." Yuki was worried what would happen if someone accidentally broke the glass...! Tokyo Tower is going through renovation right now, and that is why there are all those iron pipes and nets..
When we were there, there was a cat at this Hachiko statue. Yuki's mom has read on Facebook that someone actually leaves this cat at various tourist spots around Tokyo to get attention... The cat sure was cute, but we are not sure if he actually wants to be there. Also, someone has put a Hello Kitty sticker on Hachiko..., which we found very disrespectful to the statue?
We found a Hello Kitty bus in front of Hachiko statue. Can you guess what it is? It is a Shibuya information center!
After going to Shibuya, we visited Odaiba. One of big Japanese TV stations is in Odaiba, and our friends told us that there is always something going on in Odaiba so we should check it out.
We got to take a photo with the Statue of Liberty in Odaiba! They had a "French year" in Tokyo back in 1998 to 1999, and they placed a replica of the Statue of Liberty there. It was so popular that they got a permission from the French government and got their own Statue of Liberty since then. Behind it is another famous tourist spot, the Rainbow Bridge.
One of the things Odaiba is known for is its giant Gundam (Japanese robot anime?) statue, but it was removed in March of this year, and apparently this was the new one that's being built right now. It will not be completed until the end of September.
Also, there were replicas of some Japanese cartoons.
To be honest, Yuki's mom did not really enjoy Odaiba, but Yuki enjoyed it very much. They had many events for TV shows, Play Station, etc..
After we went to Odaiba, we headed to Tokyo Station.
Because we decided to take a bullet train back to Kobe!
This is inside the bullet train. Unlike the night bus, there was a plenty of space between each seats, and it was very comfortable! Can you spot Tag and Yuki taking a peek?
Yuki and Tag have developed such a strong bond this summer. We will miss Tag when he returns to the US...
One of the reasons why we decided to take a bullet train home was because we were hoping to see Mount Fuji!
But sadly, we could not see Mount Fuji clearly... wither because the air wasn't clear that day or because it was getting late and darker. But nevertheless, we did see Mount Fuji!
Living in Kobe and going to Osaka often, we have always considered ourselves city people. However, visiting Tokyo made us feel like we are from a very small town... TOKYO WAS BIG!! Below is the map of all the Metro lines in Tokyo. And it's not just metro that runs through Tokyo.. There are more lines of trains that run through Tokyo!
We were glad we visited Tokyo. We want to go explore again!
WOW! What fun!! We loved seeing Tokyo with Tag! That view from the top of the tower really gave us a good idea of how big it is, and I realized it looks a LOT bigger than most U.S. cities. I hadn't realized that Tokyo is actually the biggest city in the world! No wonder it made you feel small! (And it just goes to show- not everything is bigger in the U.S.!)
ReplyDeleteTyson has always been a fan of trains, and I remember him telling me all about Japan's bullet train when he was little. It got him very excited, and he was just as thrilled to see that you and Tag got to ride on it. Did it feel like you were moving really fast or was it too smooth to tell?
We laughed a little bit at your description of your lunch because you said you were a "carnival." A carnival is like a fair with rides and games- we think you probably meant "carnivore." We hope you don't think we were laughing at you- you can speak two languages, which is a skill none of us have, so we are very impressed! It did give us a bit of a giggle, though. :-)
Shibuya Crossing looks very hectic! Do you have blue lights instead of green lights in Japan? Here in the U.S. the color green means go.
We have not seen the movie about Hachiko, but we have read about his story before. It is sad, but very sweet!
We all tried the praying instructions- it's fun to do something new!
Thank you so much for taking Tag to the temple so we could see it. So far he's been to temples in the U.S., Australia, and now Japan! How wonderful for us to see. Thank you also for showing him Mt. Fuji- it was amazing even in the evening light.
It makes us happy to see how well Yuki is taking care of Tag, and we know how hard it can be for a young person to have the patience to let their mom take a bunch of photos of them with a teddy bear, so we really appreciate Yuki's patience! This has been one of the most rewarding traveling teddy experiences we've had yet!
Bullet trains are quite amazing! Regular trains shake a lot and sometimes it's very hard to stand still, though, bullet trains run very smooth!
ReplyDeleteHa, yes.. Carnivore! I usually get annoyed of autocorrect on my iPad mini, but now I wish they had autocorrect on PC as well... I am glad you guys had giggles out of it, though. And actually, both carnival and carnivore are used in Japanese as "borrowed words," but in Japanese, we don't have the sound "r," and many times, "l" and "r" are pronounced the same (or we don't sound out "r" at all, depending on the words)! So, in Japanese, carnival and carnivore are pronounced the same!
And yes! We use blue as go signal at the signals in Japan. Now, many signals use only blue and red, with flashing blue means it will soon turn red, but there are still many signals with blue, yellow, and red, with yellow meaning it will soon turn red.