{"id":3716,"date":"2016-03-18T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T23:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=3716"},"modified":"2020-03-27T11:39:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T02:39:12","slug":"tokyo-meiji-shrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/tokyo-meiji-shrine\/","title":{"rendered":"Meiji Shrine, A brief look into Japan’s most renown Shrine"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu, or Meiji Shrine, is perhaps my favorite place in the city as it offers an escape from the rushed hustle and bustle. Located on the edge of the Shibuya district and only a stone’s throw away from Harajuku’s shopping district, it is one of Japan’s most popular sights.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n Like most Shinto shrines the shrine is surrounded by nature making Meiji Shrine one of the rare ‘green’ places in the high-density city of Tokyo. It is this that makes Meiji Shrine special in its own unique way as it changes throughout the seasons while most of its surroundings do not.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n A walk around the shrine and the surrounding Yoyogi Park in spring provides the inhabitants of Tokyo and its visitors a way to relax during a day off, while during the hot summer months the trees provide shade and keep the area cool. In autumn the trees’ leaves start changing, bathing the area in countless colors. If you are lucky (or unlucky), in winter, the open areas get covered in clear-white snow.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It was not until I was invited to watch a Kyudo (Japanese traditonal archery) competition that I came to know about the other buildings located within Yoyogi Park. Apart from the archery range there is also a budojo for the practice of martial arts, as well as a treasure museum. Althouh I myself never went in without an invitation I have heard that if you ask the people at the reception nicely you may be allowed to watch the practice for a bit. Nonetheless, when I visit Tokyo I always try to make a short walk around Meiji Shrine to see its ever-changing nature with my own eyes.<\/p>\n