Day 6 Meiji Shrine, Shibuya & Harajuku

We visited the famous Meiji Shrine. This is a huge Shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, located in Shibuya in downtown Tokyo. In fact President Obama visited this shrine two months ago.

At the gateway to the shrine. 
The two uprights are from trees that are 1,500 years old.

We observed a special ceremony to start the shrine's day.

Behind: Barrels of sake (nihonshu) donated to the Meiji Shrine

After we looked at Ema wall (an ema is a wooden tablet onto which wishes may be written) and prayed. Some bought Omaori (a lucky charm) and did omikuji (get a fortune poem written by Meiji Emperor).

After we left the shrine we visited Shibuya and Harajuku (walked up and down Takeshita Street). 

Shibuya is one of the twenty-three city wards of Tokyo, but often refers to just the popular shopping and entertainment area found around Shibuya Station. In this regard, Shibuya is one of Tokyo's most colorful and busy districts, packed with shopping, dining and nightclubs serving swarms of visitors that come to the district everyday.Shibuya is a center for youth fashion and culture, and its streets are the birthplace to many of Japan's fashion and entertainment trends. Over a dozen major department store branches can be found around the area catering to all types of shoppers. 

Harajuku is the center of Japan's most extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles. The focal point of Harajuku's teenage culture is Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) and its side streets, which are lined by many trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and fast food outlets geared towards the fashion and trend conscious teens.

Here are a couple of our Shibuya pictures. You can see the nice bag that Leah bought at Harajuku!

Cole and John had a yummy Ramen noodle for lunch. 

Girls had some dessert for lunch. Tom had Japanese special McDonalds burger. The Japanese Mcdonalds have been introducing many kinds of burgers during the World Cup soccer tournament. Tom tried the France Burger. It looked really good!