The Meji Shrine
The Meji Shrine is located in Harajuku (in Tokyo). This was the first time I visited the shrine and I found it to be so odd and yet peaceful. You get off the train at the Harajuku station and walk over a bridge (here is the odd part) and you walk past these teenagers dressed up. They are dressed in Goth wear or maybe even Little Bo-Peep style clothing. The Goth kids had their hair dyed, were dressed in black, and had the black makeup on while the Little Bo-Peep kids were dressed in frilly, bright colored outfits, with cute little hats. There were not many out on this visit so I didn’t take pictures of them. After you pass the kids, you walk into a woods and continue down that path until you come to a huge wooden shrine that has two huge trees on both sides. The shrine was beautiful and you just felt at peace there. The shrine is nothing fancy. Just an wooden shrine/temple but the setting in the forest makes it work. It is a shrine that I will visit again and again.
It is strange to note that you are in the middle of a forest visiting a historic shrine but at the same time you are in the modern day, busy Tokyo. It was an amazing experience.
