We spent the New Year in Tokyo. I tried on the Japanese traditional kimono and also experienced Hatsumode (hot-su-MO-day), meaning the first shrine visit of the Japanese New Year.
Tokyo is a very diverse city. There are very modern and western-like areas. There are also areas full of history and local culture. We visited Tokyo during Christmas and New Year time. During this trip, I tried on the Japanese traditional kimono and also experienced Hatsumode. When talking about kimono, most people think of Kyoto. There are still places to try on these pretty but complicated Japanese dresses in Tokyo. You can usually find several near Sensoji (SEN-SO-jee) temple, which is where we tried ours.
It took about half an hour to an hour for a couple ladies putting the kimono on me. They first wrapped me with several layers of white clothes and a couple belts, before they actually put the kimono on me. I chose a light pink kimono, which reminds me of the cherry blossoms. After putting on the kimono, they also wrapped a long belt around me a couple times and then finally made it into a pretty bow in the back. We had to buy special socks to wear with the Japanese slippers as well.
With all this hard work to put on a kimono, of course, I had to walk around in it for a while. We walked to Sensoji temple. It was early evening, and there were tons of people.
While we were happily taking our pictures, some other tourists suddenly stepped in and wanted to take a picture with us. If you try on a kimono, be prepared that someone might grab you for pictures. And I heard that they said I was so beautiful.
We walked further to the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center near the river, where we had a nice view of Tokyo SkyTree and a nice view of Sensoji temple and Nakamise-Dori (na-GA-mi-say-do-li), where the small shops are in front of Sensoji temple.
We visited the Zojoji (ZO-JO-jee) temple on the New Year’s Eve. I saw the sign of Hatsumode in front of the temple already. This temple has shown up in the Wolverine movie! I didn’t know about the Wolverine movie when I visited the temple (because the movie is PG13!), but I was impressed with it. Later, I learned that this temple was the family temple for Tokugawa, who was a powerful ruler in Japanese history.
On New Year’s Day, to be like a local, we got up very early (at 5:00am!! I was very sleepy!!) and started our Hatsumode, the first shrine visit of Japanese New Year. There was a very nice map by the entrance of the train station that showed the locations of all the temples and shrines in Tokyo. We first headed to Meiji (MAY-jee) Shrine, which is the most popular shrine in Tokyo.
Although we got up early and arrived at Meiji Shrine early, there were many people there already. Meiji Shrine is very large, like a park. We lost our sense of direction many times. Around 8ish, we saw some TV cameras starting to set up and they all pointed to the stage in front of the main building. There must have been a New Year ceremony, but we didn’t stay to see it because more and more people were pouring in and we were totally buried in the sea of people!
We headed to the Yasukuni (ya-su-KU-nee) Shrine next. There were far less people in the Yasukuni Shrine and we were able to see a little more of it. I learned that this shrine is dedicated to those who lost their lives during the wars. Despite the heavy subject beneath the existence of the shrine, people were happily celebrating the New Year. We saw a person in a lion costume playing with a lady and her baby. There were also many street food booths set up right outside of the shrine. The food looked very good! We had to stop to get some!
We were hoping to visit Suitengu (swee-TAN-goo) Shrine as well, but we didn’t find it because we got lost. The streets were very empty and quiet on the New Year’s Day, unlike all other times.
It was a very different New Year for me and I had a very nice impression of Tokyo. I will eventually write all the interesting things that I saw and experienced during this one week stay in Tokyo. I would like to go to Tokyo again to visit these shrines and temples during other time of the year and to learn more about other things that I didn’t see during this trip!
Senjoji Temple
Zojoji Temple
Meiji Shrine
Yasukuni Shrine
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