Giant Tokyo picture dump

Heeeeey, guys.  I'm back in Nagoya now!  Finally!  So now I can upload all those pictures I said I would and work on the presentation I have to give next week post them here like a boss.

...this is calligraphy from a million years ago that apparently I never bothered to take off my camera.  OOPS.

LOOK AT THAT HEART RADICAL.  I SUFFERED OVER IT, SO YOU BETTER BE IMPRESSED.

This is what it looks like when you try to take a picture of an annullar eclipse!

Which is to say that it looks exactly like the sun.

Oops.

Anyway, Tokyo!

Here's Yushima Tenmangu:

There was a festival going on, so all sorts of stands were lining the street...

Apparently this touch-screen-at-the-shrine thing is a THING in Tokyo.

This is a kind of adorable fortune-dispensing machine.  And you can pick whether you want a normal fortune or a lurve fortune!

There was a taiko performance going on in the parking lot for the festival.  They were SO ENERGETIC and fun to watch.

There was also a bonsai exhibit going on!

The shrine has a nice little garden on the grounds too!

These people were performing as well, although they weren't as energetic as the taiko team.

Mikoshi!  They were lined up on the streets for the procession, so I got to take a bunch of pictures of them!

Shishi!  These are the lion-dog heads that people wear during festivals, kind of like the lions used in Chinese lion dances.

A festival staple, goldfish fishing!  I've done it before.  Japanese goldfish are kind of adorably bug-eyed.

Here're the shishi from the side!

Look at the amount of detail on this thing.

No, seriously, look at the detail.

Street vendors!

Horses!  For people to ride during the procession.

This is carved into the gates of the shrine, since the cow is a common symbol of Tenjin.

Weapons and staffs, all prepared for the procession...

...I have no idea what this is a picture of.  A snake and...another animal????

Tiny mikoshi!  (This one was supposed to be carried by kids.)

DETAILS.

These guys were readying a drum to haul around.

LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF DETAIL THERE IS IN THAT CARVINGGGGGG.

Here are a bunch of guys getting ready to march with the mikoshi!

This is apparently what ice cream was like in the 40s and 50s in Japan.  It was good, but not at all like normal ice cream--the consistency was more like sherbet.

Anyway, after that they all carried the mikoshi off to circle the neighborhood...  Each mikoshi had a separate route.

I ran into this group as I was heading toward the subway station!

So that was Yushima Tenmangu.

My next stop was Hie Shrine.

STAIRS.

STAIRS.

STA- wait, what?

...yes, that is an escalator leading up to the shrine.

Here's the main entrance to the shrine!  I opted to wander around the outside of the complex before going in, though.

Apparently their Inari shrine is behind this fence topped with barbed wire...?  I dunno.

Apparently Shinyo Maritime Corporation donated some of the funds for this torii!

Climbing down the stairs...

Climbing back up the stairs...

(I may have seen this and burst into sudden, irrational laughter.  Too much Sherlock on the brain.)

So then I headed into the main shrine gate!

This ema has nothing to do with crabs.

 Bamboo!

There was a wedding going on while I was there, which was exciting.

So then I headed over to Yoyogi Park!

This is right in the middle of Tokyo.

There's a pond!

And a rose garden!

These are possibly the weirdest colored roses I've ever seen.

So many beautiful roses!

There were also a lot of people chilling and enjoying the beautiful weather!

This statue cracks me up.  The guy and lady are so serious, and the kid is like, "OMG SO BORED LET'S NOT SIT HERE."

Anyway, that was Saturday!

On Sunday I took the train to Ueno Park, where I visited the Tokyo National Museum, which might be one of my favorite museums ever!

These are legitimately the best guardians I've ever seen.  (There are twelve of them, each representing a different year of the Chinese zodiac.)

LOOK AT HOW MUCH ATTITUDE THEY HAVE.

The one of the far right in the front, incidentally, is the one for the horse, and thus is my guardian, I guess!

I apologize for the semi-horrific picture quality; my camera was being a pain.

Meanwhile:

Hey, look, a sword!

...oh, Oda Nobukatsu, you were SUCH a people person.

MEANWHILE, in the bathroom:

...I don't even know.

MEANWHILE:

...is it just me, or does this helmet totally look like it has a bunch of leeks strapped to it?

So, yeah, I spent way too many hours at the museum, saw a bunch of cool artifacts, and then headed back to my hostel to pack up for OKINAWA~  Which will be next post.