Day 7: The Tokyo Trinity: Shrine, Garden, Temple

It's almost time to go Liz and Chris...Yes it was... but just before we headed home there was enough time to take in the Tokyo Trinity...Shrine, Garden and Temple!!!

An early morning of packing and sorting so that we had clothes for our evening flight available and then it was check out and off to a quick coffee and baguette at Starbucks (ooh eeeek yes I did say that). We then had to find yet another Tokyo train line for the short trip to Hamamatchabori which is where the bus depot is located to join the bus for our morning tour of Tokyo. This would be great.... the natural collection of all the big ticket items in Japan: Shrine, Garden, Temple!!!!

The first stop was the Meiji Shrine built in honour of the great grandfather of the current emperor who was the architect of the Meiji Restoration following the collapse of the shogunate. A long walk in on "rice bubbles" as Chris has dubbed the range of ground gravel that characterises all of the pathways and surrounds in such locations. The tori is huge: but relatively plain and unadorned. We were in for a treat as our guide was very pleased to tell us that it was the 101st anniversary of the death of the Meiji emperors wife and there was a special memorial service at the shrine in her honour. There were so many people there it was hard to see, but the formality and the considered movement of the event was stunning. There were very few words but lots of slow ritual movements by a large group of Shinto  priests clad in ornate white robes. The only sound was the varied beating of a ceremonial drum which accompanied the movement. It was a very special experience. In addition, around the perimetre of the main shrine building there was an extensive display of ichibana or Japanese floral arranging, again done in honour of the anniversary. Perfect evidence of the holistic impact that Shinto as a religion of ancient origin has on the life of the people in modern Japan.

View into the shrine sanctuary on the occasion of the 101st anniversary of the demise of the Empress Shoken

Stop two was the eastern garden of the Imperial Palace. We had heard so much about the Shogun and this original palace that he/they had built in Tokyo and how it had been taken over by the Meiji emperor in 1868 so we were keen for a look, even if it was only to be the gardens. The first thing that strikes you as you arrive it the scale of the walls of the surrounding moats... yes, that would be moats plural as there are three of them... this was supposed to assist the shogun to sleep soundly as his attackers had to breach three moats before they would get to the castle!! Chris stood next to the wall and the size of the block of granite it amazing. How did they possibly lift them into place?? The moat wall is pretty much all that remains of the actual palace as much of it was burned and has been reconstructed over the years. Evidence of a couple of preserved guard houses where the shogun's body guards slept can be seen on the inside of the second moat, en route to the garden.. And what a garden! There was blossoms, a few left, but the bridges, watercourses and miniaturised trees perfectly manicured were stunning and we saw less than 10% of this expanse. Beautiful. ON the way out we could hear the imperial guard practising their martial arts in the training area just beyond the moat. Sounded energetic to say the least... But the bus called and it was off to stop three: Asakusa Temple.

Wow. Wow! Wow! This is the largest and oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, and being a Saturday there were more locals around and lots of tourists. What was striking was the difference between the sizeable crowd at the shrine earlier who were quiet and ordered versus the chaos of this temple experience,, push, shove, jostle and in such sharp contrast to the day before at Kita Kamakura where the peace and tranquillity were the things that overwhelmed. Having said that, the main shrine is massive, imposing and demands attention and contains the statue of the bodhisattva Kannon.  Scattered around this level site are other smaller shrines, one housing the original wooden carving that established the shrine in the 12th century and a very impressive 5 tiered pagoda which is a mausoleum on this site. I overheard an Australian tourist talking to a Japanese man and the Aussie was saying that religion is not important in Australia: that we are sort of a Christian country but that the kids are not taught about religion and it really doesn't matter like it does in America...Liz  would have liked to have butted in and corrected some of his inaccuracies but figured that there was little point. 

So temple over for the day it was time to deal with the bustle that is the tourist business that has grown up around the Asakusa temple. This area developed as a trading area from the 17th century, in the 1800's trading was banned by the Japanese government and re established in the 1920's only  to be rebuilt after its destruction in WWII. We had told the tour guide that, rather than sit in the bus to go to Ginza we would leave the tour in Asakusa as many did and make our own way back, which we did, via a detour to Ueno Park to check out the cherry blossoms, We were conscious that were on a tight schedule to catch the plane tonight and so, having had a quick lunch we took the subway to Ueno from Asakusa. Unfortunately the blossoms in Ueno had all but vanished as the trees were starting to look a verdant green with just smatterings of blossom remaining. That's life really... shows you how fragile life is and how it is held in a delicate balance.

Outside of the park however, Ueno is a very busy and somewhat seedy area of town. There are lots and lots of "market stalls" selling everything from the most outrageous pair of Nikes, to clothing and some jewellery. We could have spent a lot of time here just mooching, but the smell was pretty horrendous and we wanted to get back to Tokyo. So back on the JR line on a Tokyo express train to get to the hotel, repack the bags, change for the flight home and find the N'EX train out to the airport. There was a small surprise in store however. Chris had received an email from Jetstar that had said that they had moved to Terminal 3 the day before and that it was a 500 metre walk from the Terminal 2. This may well be true if one were to take the closest point of each building but it was a kilometre from the station to the brand new terminal 3. So off we hiked.

The terminal is brand new. It has no ceilings, the conveyor belts to carry the luggage from check-in are not operational and there was  a good deal of temporary signage, but there was a lovely food court and we had a rice bowl meal and sat chatting with a young Korean man waiting for his girlfriend. Through customs was a cinch and then off to the gate downstairs and where there is NO airbridge. So across the tarmac we traipsed and it was just a tad chilly. Seating on the plane was great. First row of economy and a spare seat next to Chris meant we could spread out and snooze on the way home. More steps to be had in Cairns where we arrived at 4.45am for transfer to a 6.30 flight to Sydney.