I went to class in the morning having no idea what I was going to do in the afternoon – I thought about going on a kayak tour, but there wasn’t one available. I asked my classmates and teacher for suggestions, but nothing was resonating.
In the end, after a lot of hemming and hawing, I decided to go to Kitanomaru National Garden. It turned out to be a park full of trees and beautiful winding paths right in the middle of the concrete jungle. It was located along Imperial Palace moat. I bought a soft serve matcha ice cream in a delicate waffle cone and strolled the paths. Heaven.
I then looked on the map to see what was around me that would be interesting to explore next. I remembered seeing signs in the station for a shrine called Kanda Jinbosho. I thought I remembered a beautiful vermillion coloured shrine complex that I wanted to see so I set off in that direction. It was about a 25 minute walk from where I was. I wandered through the streets and saw some interesting things.
When I arrived, this was the shrine I found nestled in between an apartment building, and some offices :
So, I set off once again, and actually found the shrine I was looking for – it was another 30 minute walk away. Here are some highlights of some of the things seen on my walk there:
Here are some of the interesting buildings, the one on the right is part of the Meiji University campus.
And then I stumbled upon the best thing of all! A street that is famous for guitar stores. There were more than 20 stores, some being 5 floors tall. There were also other music specialty stores. I couldn’t believe it. What is more unbelievable is that I did not buy anything – even the amazing travel guitar that was a great deal!
I finally arrived at Kanda Myojin Shrine.
There happened to be a ceremonial Noh theatre performance happening as I walked into the compound. Here is a short video:
I then went to Akihabara for the second time (see last blogpost). On my way way back, I came across a place I had walked by at least twice before but never noticed it – it was called “Taiko Lab” – if we get to come back I will try to book a spot for my family to do a Taiko drumming workshop.
When I arrived back in my neighbourhood I was pretty weary so I found by a tiny Izakaya around the corner from my apartment, where I ate some great food! From left to right: hiyyako (chilled tofu), deep freid garlic cloves with miso, stir fried eggplant, and tempura lotus root. Delicious! Another great day!
