Friday, July 12: Day 4

Another fun and exciting day in Tokyo!! Today we had the culture tour and we were able to do some sight seeing around Tokyo! To begin the tour we hopped on the bus and met our tour guide. Our tour guide was very informative and had quite the sense of humor which kept us all entertained during the tour. On the bus he even taught us some Japanese words and phrases! We learned to count to seven in Japanese...

Itch, Knee, Son, She, go, hatch, hitch!! 

and another phrase, "donttouchmymoustache" which supposedly translates to something in Japanese.

Our first stop on the tour was Meiji Jingu Shrine! This is a shinto shrine is dedicated to protecting the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife. On our walk to the shrine, we passed a wall full of barrels of sake which I learned were donated to the shrine. Before entering the shrine, we cleansed ourselves with water. There is water located outside the shrine and everyone who enters is supposed to pour the water on both hands then rinse the mouth with the water. This ritual is supposed to cleanse each person before going into the shrine. Inside the shrine we all made wishes. To make a wish at the shrine, one must clap twice, make a wish, then bow. 

Our next stop on the tour was the Imperial Palace. This is where the current Emperor of Japan resides. The outside of the palace is surrounded by a large moat and there is a large bridge that leads up to the palaces doors. Unfortunately we were not able to go inside the Palace :(

Our last stop on the tour was the Asakusa Sensoji Shrine. This one of the most famous shrines in Tokyo. The shrine honors the three men who founded Sensoji. At this shrine we also made wishes. We also bought fortunes. I found the fortunes to be quite interesting because not all fortunes were good. One could get a bad fortunes, a good fortune, or a half fortune (good and bad). I got a half fortune which said that both marriage and new employment are bad. I'm choosing not to believe this!!! 

The tour ended around 1 and we had the rest of the day to explore on our own! Kathleen, Kristy, and I choose to stay in Asakusa and shop around!! I got a cute little geisha lantern and a samurai sword for my boyfriend!! It was a very successful day :)