We got up early again today and caught a bus back to Odawara station. From there we took the same train back to Tokyo. Unfortunately there weren't any reserved seats left, so we, along with a whole bunch of other people, had to be in the unreserved cars of the train and that meant we stood for the entire 40 minutes. Once we arrived into Tokyo we got off the train and then got on another train. This train was packed. I wish I could have taken a picture, but there was no room to move. Ben had to be shoved from behind just to fit into the train. It was an interesting experience. Yep, we did what the guidebook said not to, we rode the train during the morning rush hour. Thankfully it was only to the next station. We bought a day ticket good for the train and metro and then headed to our hotel to drop off our luggage. After dropping our luggage off we got back on the metro and went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office where you could get great views of the city from one of two towers for free. I love it when things are free. From the 45th floor we could see just how huge Tokyo is.
Wow. After our free views we jumped back on the metro and went to see one of the most famous shrines in Tokyo, the Meiji-jingu Shrine.
Shrines, unlike temples, are actually dedicated to "famous" people who have died. It was in the middle of a forested park and was really relaxing. Before we entered the shrine we did the tradition washing of our hands and mouth before entering the shrine
and then threw a coin in the box in front of the shrine again doing the traditional motions (bow twice, clap twice, bow once).
We then walked to Shibuya Crossing.
It's the crossing when people can cross the street from all different directions and all it is is people crossing the street. Next to the metro station there was the Hachiko statue which was a tribute to a dog that always met his owner at the train when he came back from work. The dog continued to do so even after his owner died and so they put this statue there.
We got lost finding a place for lunch and ended up eating in a department store, which is actually a pretty popular place to eat lunch. We had some time before our next stop, so we went to Kitanomaru-koen (park) and walked around a little.
We made a brief stop at the Yasukuni-jinja shrine,
the shrine for establishing peace in the Empire dedicated to the Japanese war-dead. Supposedly the most controversial shrine in Japan. Then it was time to head to Kabuki-za theater to catch one act of a Kabuki play.
A lot of the ladies were dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos, but the strange thing was that none of the men were. We saw Rampei Mongourui which the theater guide said had one of the most spectacular fight scenes in kabuki. It was one of my favorite things of the trip. Very unique. The main actors (all are men, even the women are played by men) have very colorful clothing and white faces. We had an English audio guide to help us understand what was going on, but it was pretty cool. You could see the whole show, but that lasted 5 hours or so. The one act we saw was about an hour and a half. The fight scene was pretty cool. It was all choreographed and wasn't violent at all, more like a dance. As it was our last night in Tokyo, we tried to pick out a place for dinner that would be a good Japanese experience. What we got was certainly that, but I had a hard time eating a lot of it. We went to a restaurant specializing in kaiseki. Kaiseki is all about setting and presentation. We did the mini-kaiseki meal which consisted of 15 different dishes and 3 different types of green tea at the very end. I ate everything except for the fish cut in half. I just couldn't do it. It expanded my eating horizon though as I had several different types of raw fish (the raw salmon was my favorite) as well as fried fish bones.
The top dish in the picture above is the fried fish bones.
Wow. After our free views we jumped back on the metro and went to see one of the most famous shrines in Tokyo, the Meiji-jingu Shrine. 
Shrines, unlike temples, are actually dedicated to "famous" people who have died. It was in the middle of a forested park and was really relaxing. Before we entered the shrine we did the tradition washing of our hands and mouth before entering the shrine 
and then threw a coin in the box in front of the shrine again doing the traditional motions (bow twice, clap twice, bow once).
We then walked to Shibuya Crossing. 
It's the crossing when people can cross the street from all different directions and all it is is people crossing the street. Next to the metro station there was the Hachiko statue which was a tribute to a dog that always met his owner at the train when he came back from work. The dog continued to do so even after his owner died and so they put this statue there.
We got lost finding a place for lunch and ended up eating in a department store, which is actually a pretty popular place to eat lunch. We had some time before our next stop, so we went to Kitanomaru-koen (park) and walked around a little. 
We made a brief stop at the Yasukuni-jinja shrine, 
the shrine for establishing peace in the Empire dedicated to the Japanese war-dead. Supposedly the most controversial shrine in Japan. Then it was time to head to Kabuki-za theater to catch one act of a Kabuki play.
A lot of the ladies were dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos, but the strange thing was that none of the men were. We saw Rampei Mongourui which the theater guide said had one of the most spectacular fight scenes in kabuki. It was one of my favorite things of the trip. Very unique. The main actors (all are men, even the women are played by men) have very colorful clothing and white faces. We had an English audio guide to help us understand what was going on, but it was pretty cool. You could see the whole show, but that lasted 5 hours or so. The one act we saw was about an hour and a half. The fight scene was pretty cool. It was all choreographed and wasn't violent at all, more like a dance. As it was our last night in Tokyo, we tried to pick out a place for dinner that would be a good Japanese experience. What we got was certainly that, but I had a hard time eating a lot of it. We went to a restaurant specializing in kaiseki. Kaiseki is all about setting and presentation. We did the mini-kaiseki meal which consisted of 15 different dishes and 3 different types of green tea at the very end. I ate everything except for the fish cut in half. I just couldn't do it. It expanded my eating horizon though as I had several different types of raw fish (the raw salmon was my favorite) as well as fried fish bones. 
The top dish in the picture above is the fried fish bones. 
I tried to eat the fish, but just couldn't. I just couldn't eat the head or the tail of it. 
Before we left we got a picture with one of our waitresses. 
Last we went back to the Government buildings to see Tokyo at night. What a sight and a great way to end the evening.
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