Meiji Jingu Shrine

Yesterday morning, it just poured, so we chilled in the room, read, and did laundry. It's pretty cool, there are 9 floors with two washer/dryer combo machines on each of those floors, and you can see each machine on the TV in the room to see which ones are available and also see how much longer your load will be. In the afternoon, it was nicer, so we walked around and checked things out. Some of the cherry trees are blooming, hoping in a couple of days it will be much more. Today, we walked to Meiji Jingu Shrine and surrounding park and also checked out the Shibuya Crossing, which is the busiest pedestrian crossing intersection in Tokyo. It is estimated that 1,000 to 2,500 people cross every 2 minutes during busy periods. Japan definitely has its own vibe. They definitely respect queues or lines, every street crossing, bus stop, store/restaurants,etc. have orderly lines. They definitely try and automate as much as they can, but it is also interesting to see so many people employed doing seemingly meaningless tasks. For example they will have someone holding a sign in a park saying no alcohol allowed, or have 4 people at a driveway with orange flags ready to block the sidewalk traffic if a car is coming out of a parkade. It is also crazy busy here. I'm not sure if this is typical or if this is the cherry blossom rush. Today was a beautiful sunny and warm day.Read more