6
Jan
Banzai! Meiji Shrine and the Imperial Palace
Topic: Japan 2007
A contingent of Japanese Brazilians at the Imperial Palace on the second day of the new year
In my post from the early morning of the 1st, I mentioned Maria headed out with the boys about 1AM, since they couldn’t sleep, since it was the middle of the day by their body clocks. The first few pictures below are from their late night wanderings in the outskirts of Roppongi. Even though they couldn’t sleep, they were exhausted - you can see it in their eyes. The bamboo arrangement next to Kai in one of the pictures is called Kadomatsu, which is a traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration placed in entryways.
All of us except Kai finally got some sleep, but he was so wound up, the lack of sleep didn’t slow him down. Our destination that morning was the Meiji shrine, for Hatsumode:
New Years is perhaps the most important holiday that is celebrated in Japan, with three days of festivities celebrated across the country. Hatsumode, or “First Worship of the Year” is an essential part of the celebration. Hatsumode is the first shrine or temple visit of the new year. Even people who do not hold Buddhist or Shinto beliefs will visit a shrine or temple during the first three days of the New Year in order to pray for a safe and happy year. People will make offerings of money, draw omikuji paper fortunes, and buy special good-luck charms and amulets (omamori) to ensure good health, success in business or school, finding a marriage partner, and so forth…It is said that nearly 70 million people in Japan visit shrines and temples over the three day New Years Holiday every year. This number may seem too large to believe, but each year Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu [shrine] alone receives 3.6 million visitors…
The photo below of the large area covered in white sheets at the shrine is where people throw coins for good luck. The picture of Maria buying an arrow for Kai is to bring him health and safety (you can also get ones for financial success, etc.) The one of small pieces of paper attached to wires is where people put unwelcome omikuji (fortunes) that they received. These are burned by staff at the shrine, to help lessen the chances of the bad fortune coming true.
The photos starting with the one of the two vans are from the next day, when we visited the grounds of the Imperial Palace to see the Emperor and the royal family wave for a few minutes to the thousands of people who poured in for this rare public appearance. The vans in the photo are owned by Japanese nationalists, who clearly stood out from the rest of the crowd (to me many of them looked like gangsters, with dark suits, sunglasses, and slicked back hair). There were many vans like these around, with nationalist slogans printed on them, in the old style right to left format.
It was a long walk to get to the palace, and there were police everywhere. We were lucky to be traveling with Eidan in his stroller, as we were personally escorted by a series of guards (we were passed from one to another as we passed various stations) along a path separate from the rest of the crowd.
I think the video of the crowd when the Emperor appeared speaks for itself. The photo with folks waving Brazilian flags was a contingent of Japanese Brazilians who were standing right behind us (Brazil has the largest population of Japanese living outside of Japan).
 The outskirts of Roppongi Hills on New Year’s Eve
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 Kai and Eidan, up in the middle of the night on New Year’s Eve
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 Kai and Kadomatsu, a traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration
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 Sake at Meiji Shrine
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 Kai and Maria, at the entrance gate to Meiji Shrine
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 On the walkway to Meiji Shrine
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 Approaching the Meiji shrine main building
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 Fortune seekers tossing their 5 yen coins for good luck in the new year
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 Kai getting his health and happiness arrow for the new year
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 Unwanted omikuji (fortunes) - these are burned by the shrine staff
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 Vans with nationalist slogans outside the grounds of the Imperial Palace
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 Approaching the Imperial Palace
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 On one of the bridges leading to Imperial Palace, looking at the other bridge
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 Video - The crowd goes wild for the royal family
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 The royal family waves to the crowd
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