Meiji Shrine

So, I have been on a bit of a blog vacation. Today we went to Meiji Shrine with a friend of mine from California that I met through Japanese class. She is one of the few American girlfriends I have and she adores Miyako so it was a lot of fun. Meiji Shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji who ruled from 1868-1912. It is a common shrine to have Shinto weddings at. We saw some sort of ceremony today but we were not sure what of. It kept me from taking closer pictures of the shrine. It was a nice place to go as there were lots of trees and we were able to stay in the shade quite a bit. After walking through the grounds, we headed to Harajuku and stopped at a great 100 yen (dollar shop) store where I stocked up on some "sweat towels" to keep with me during the summer in order to wipe the sweat off my face. Harajuku is known for the people who dress up in funny outfits or costumes. On a week day we only saw two girls dressed up. I imagine you see a lot more on the weekend or in the evenings, but I heard going there with a stroller can be a bit tough with all of the crowds. From there we walked to Omotesando and had lunch at a place called Maisen. I wish I had not left my camera in the buggy so I could have taken a picture of our meal. It was Miyako's first experience eating in a tatami room on the floor and she did pretty well. This restaurant is known for it's fried pork dishes and I had one of my favorite Japanese dishes - tonkatsu. It is basically a rice bowl with fried pork, egg, and onion on top in a special sauce that is spectacular. Now Miyako is sleeping peacefully after being out and about all morning, I am sipping some Dunkin Decaf and catching up on the blog...more like procrastinating my closet cleaning project, but oh well. The blog needed updated. Enjoy the pics from today along with Miyako, Dada and Ojichan (Grandpa from Kyoto).