Happy New Year! The end of 2012 brought a lot of changes. Starting a home with Louis has been a very (much anticipated) good thing. However this change also meant a big move. IL to Japan. I think this blog is the perfect way to share my experiences with family and friends! To be clear, when I say, "family and friends" I really mean, "mostly my Mom and Dad". And maybe my grandma if I can get someone to bookmark the link for it on her bookmark toolbar.
On new years eve, we took a train to Shiba Park. Our first stop was the Buddhist temple Zojoji. It is conveniently located right next to Tokyo Tower.
While at the temple square we got a chance to walk around the grounds. This is a picture of wooden plaques with Japanese writing on them. I did some research and found out that like me, no tourist really knows what these things say or mean. Let me know if you figure it out.
Next we walked into a garden filled with stone statues. They are all childlike in appearance and decorated with knitted hats, pinwheels, flowers, incense, etc. We even saw one that someone had put a baby sized fleece jacket on!
These statues represent unborn children, including miscarried, stillborn, and aborted babies. The bringing of gifts to these statues is supposed to please Jizo, the deity who guards unborn children and guides them safely to the afterlife.
Around the square there were some food vendors. It was fun to see someone making Takoyaki. Also known as "Lou's least favorite Japanese snack". They are round dumplings filled with octopus, brushed with mayonnaise, and sprinkled with dried fish. What's not to like?
Next we walked across the street to go 150 meters up in Tokyo Tower.
By this time the sun was setting and the city looked really beautiful. Tokyo is HUGE!
You could purchase wooden plaques to write wishes for the new year on.
At the bottom of tokyo tower we got our picture taken with the "Tokyo Warm Heart". I don't know why, but all the Japanese people were doing it, so we did the same.
The explanation for the picture above also explains this next picture. I am clueless about the red ball.
Tokyo Tower is very pretty at night time. My pictures don't do it justice.
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