Roppongi Area!

   On November 15th at around 2:45, my group and I headed to Roppongi area. First we checked out the Nogi Shrine, which was right by the subway exit. The first thing I noticed was the white torii shrine gates. Usually torii are a red/orangish color, and I don't think I have ever seen a white torii before, so I was a bit surprised. Although I tried to research if a white torii has any specific meaning, I couldn't find any answers. I never knew there was a shrine for General Nogi until I took this class. I learned about Nogi in a class I took at Earlham (he was a/n in/famous general during the Meiji period who was prominent during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 where, although many soldiers lives were lost including his own son's I believe, he captured Port Arthur. He also commited ritual suicide on the funeral day of Emperor Meiji.) Since I've learned about Nogi before, it was really interesting to see this shrine! There were a lot of people there (mainly from our class), but the atmosphere was calming. The shrine was giving out free barely tea (which I've never seen done before), but it ran out by the time I tried to get some. Some of the leaves where changing color, so it was a really beautiful area. Supposedly there is a 300 year old ginkgo (?) tree there, but I'm not sure if I saw it/where it was.

   Next we moved on to the garden area towards Nogi's house. It would have been really interesting to see inside the house, but unfortunately no one can go in anymore. After than we walked down Gaien Higashi Dori to Tokyo Midtown. I noticed on the way there was a mix of newer and older buildings. When we left Nogi's house, there was a old brick building on the left (brick seems pretty rare here). And one building had a nice, expensive looking store on the street level, but the rest/top of the building was pretty shabby and old looking. Around the Midtown and later Roppongi area we went to, I noticed that there were various types of stores and restaurants. I saw a couple of fancy car showrooms, Japanese-esque style restaurants, tons of bars and clubs, and even a Wendy's and a Friday's restaurant (my first time seeing either in Japan)! In the Roppongi Crossing area (which I will talk about more later), I noticed that there were more "young" people looking shops. I thought it seemed like a fun and interesting area, and I hope to go back there again.

   Anyway, at Midtown we checked out the Fuji Film Square which had some camera and photo galleries. I saw a lot of cool old cameras as well as new cameras such as the instax mini 8 which I want! After walking through Fuji Film, we passed by a fountain/sculpture area where there were snowmen statues! It seems like the Midtown area puts up various Christmas decorations. After walking through a expensive looking department store/mall area, we headed towards the garden grounds. There was a huge area with lights (for Christmas?), but since it was still light outside, they weren't on. I really want to go back at night sometime though! It looked pretty intense even without the lights on. To the right of that, there was a park area that we passed through. Most of is was pretty grassy, but there were a couple of sculptures/play areas which I thought was interesting. Some kids were playing around there, but overall there were not many people. We also checked out the Hinokicho Koen, which was a small Japanese garden that dates back to the Edo period. I can't even imagine what it looked like back then. I've gotten used to seeing skyscrapers in the background while at gardens, but it must have been incredibly beautiful back then. A lot of the leaves were changing at the park, which struck me as beautiful. Not many people (other than students from our class) were at this park either, but my group did notice a cute high school couple holding hands and napping on a bench. You don't see much public affection here in Tokyo; holding hands is about as much as I've seen.

   After leaving the garden/park area, we headed to Roppongi Crossing. I've already mentioned some of the shops I saw in this area. Another thing that I noticed was that by the cross walk, there was a sculpture/flower pot area with various flowers. Sometimes you see plants on side streets here, but I'm not sure if I ever noticed potted plants on main streets too much. I'm sure they exist, but this was the first time I actually took notice to it. Anyway, I learned from the reading that Roppongi used to be a significant military center. This area has certainly changed over time, from being a place were multiple daimyo lived during the Edo period, a military area, and to the entertainment and pleasure center it is now. Although a lot of the area has been rebuilt because of bombings, I guess that since it was a popular place for bars during its military years, that role has somewhat continued over time. But while I was there, I would have never guessed the area used to be the center of military activity.

   Next my group headed towards the Tokyo Tower area. Since we walked slow, it took us a while to get to the place we were aiming for, the Ichijo temple. By the time we got there it was closed, but it was interested to note that temples and shrines like Ichijo, which are surrounded by buildings on almost all sides, exist in little pockets throughout Tokyo. We also didn't get to experience the Reiyukai Shakaden, a building for one of the newer religions in Japan, but we saw it from the street and the architecture seemed pretty amazing. We also noticed the St. Alban's Church and the Masonic building across from it. I though it was interesting that so many different types of religious buildings are in one area. I wonder if that has any effect on the area/neighborhood such as who lives in the area, etc.

   We also stopped by Tokyo Tower for a bit! It was mt first time being that close to it. Someday I want to go to top! But today we just stayed at the bottom and looked at all of the Christmas lights/decorations that were set up. They were so cute but a bit random. I wasn't really sure why they were there. Since there aren't as many Christmas decorations here as there are in America, I haven't really noticed that it is getting closer to Christmas...After Tokyo Tower we also stopped by the Zojoji Temple, but since it was dark (and closed) we didn't actually get to see much. I did notice the rows of jizo (statues devoted to stillborn/miscarried and aborted children), but I would like to go during the day to see more of the temple and to figure out where the graves of former shogun are! After the temple a few of us ate ramen and took the crowded train home from Hamamatsucho station.

   After going to various parts of Tokyo, I fell like each neighborhood has it's own distinct atmosphere. That's part of why I love Tokyo. The Roppongi area was a mix of quieter areas, such as by the Nogi Shrine or park areas, high end areas, such as the Midtown buildings, and areas which featured more "seedy" places such as bars and clubs. I noticed that on the back of some street signs there would be graffiti or stickers, which I have noticed in Harajuku (which isn't too far from Roppongi), but don't really see in areas such as Marunouchi for example. While walking by Tokyo Tower I noticed one "green" building which had plants growing up and down the building's walls, which I haven't seen in Tokyo before. Roppongi was an interesting and intriguing area for me, and I hope I get the chance to explore the area again!