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Published: October 9th 2010
Mare and our Guide
We were fortunate to get an excellent guide in Tokyo. She spent 2 years in Vancouver as a student.October 7, 2010 - Tokyo
One hears about the ‘Bullet Train’, but one has to take it to really understand both how fast it goes (average speed is around 225 to 250 mph) and how smooth the ride is. It took about 2 hours from Kyoto to Tokyo a distance of about 500 km. The working population of Tokyo including people that commute from the suburbs is about 14 million, almost half of Canada’s population. We were met at the train station by our guides, our guide spent several years in Vancouver as a student so she had no problem relating to a bunch of Canadians. Our first stop was a large park which has a Shinto shrine. Perhaps I should investigate the Shinto religion more since on one side of the path as we entered was a wall of different sake barrels and on the other side was a wall of very fine wine barrels. Any religion that welcomes people as such deserves further investigation. The park is dedicated to the emperor who was responsible for bringing Japan from a feudal system to a modern democraticy.
After my comments about our spacious hotel room in Kamchatka, it is only
Shinto Temple
Budda gets alone with Shinto fair that I comment on the Conrad in Tokyo. The reception is on the 28th floor and you could have put our Kamchatka room into our bathroom in Tokyo. All of our meals in Tokyo were excellent, in fact I am very proud of Mare who normally is hesitant to try new dishes but here she tried almost everything, even raw fish. Talking about fish one of our stops was the Tokyo fish market. A couple of things here if you ever plan to visit; (1) it is interesting to see all the activity and the vast number of different fish, (2) wear shoes that will not slip and be prepared to get your shoes wet, (3) there are trucks and trolleys everywhere so be aware, they aren’t going to stop for you.
One temple situation was interesting; there is a large Shinto Temple virtually in downtown Tokyo that also has a Buddhist Temple.
In my travels in North America and Europe I have never encountered one religion that was prepared to share grounds with another religion. So far every Shinto Temple that we have visited the street approaching it is lined with numerous small shops selling every variety
Tokyo
Amusement park in center of Tokyo of things. One thing unique about the Shinto Temples is that they seem to have a good business presenting the wishes of people to the gods. For a small fee one can either write out ones wish or pay for a prepared one that matches your desire and the priests will later pray for its fulfillment.
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George Henderson
non-member comment
Re: TravelBlog
Morgan: I have enjoyed recieving your updates along with pictures. Only wish I was along. Say hi to Doreen S. for me. George