Japan Day 8: Ebisu, Daikanyama and Meguro, & Idabashi

This was one of my favorite days! A. Got up to Greg making waffles. I mean, dang. F-yeah Greg! Showered, had breakfast, and headed to the station early to get things seen.

The map I was given to get us to the shrine. Note the lack of English. LOL.

1. Daien-ji

Dain-ji is a temple that commemorates stillborn and miscarried children, as well as aborted fetuses. There were lots of stone statues and jizo. (Jizo is the embodiment of the Bodhisattva Vow, the aspiration to save all beings from suffering. He is the protector of women, children, and travelers in the six realms of existence.) It was a very cool little temple area and it was amazing the amount of statues they fit into one small space.

History: In 1772, there was a great fire that burnt the city center of Edo. The fire, called "the fire of Gyoninzaka, was speculated to start in Daienji Temple. It is one of three major fires of Edo. According to "Shinpen Musashi Fudo Kiko" (a topography written around 1804 to 1829), the statues of five hundred Arhats were built for victims of the Fire of Gyoninzaka. 

Huge organ built into the wall.

2. Meguro Wedding Hall.

My favorite one. So simple and beautiful.

This was in the Lonely Planet and was a pretty cool place to stop by. If I ever get married in Japan, this is where to do it. A little old lady showed us around to a couple of the wedding chapels. I think she would have shown us the building from top to bottom if we'd let her. The chapels were really beautiful, but I bet they cost a lot of cheddar.

Statue in the wedding hall garden.

The lady who took us around the wedding halls.

A lot of different decorations in the hallways of the building.

Lots of mobiles.

The wedding dresses were super ornate.

3. Parasitological Museum.
Made. My. Skin. Itch. It was pretty gross and I've never seen so many worms in my life. Ick. Nothing was labeled in English, for which I was

You can all thank Yolanda for this picture. I mean... wouldn't you just cut them off?!!?

4. Yebisu Beer Museum
The beer museum had a little gallery and tasting center. Had a half and half and decided that Yebisu is definitely one of my favorite beers. Unfortunately, I don't think you can get it in the states. I'll have to do some research. The building was huge and very open. Also got some beer soap to bring back as gifts that smells really goo. Had a lunch/snack in their tasting center: salmon, bread, and cheese plate. Super impressed. It was yummy.

 

5. Tokyo Dome: Tigers vs. Giants
The best baseball game I have ever been to in my life!!! We sat on the Tigers side, but both sides were equally energetic and packed. It was a sold out game and we had standing only tickets. The most organized cheering I have ever seen. We had an absolute blast. Sakamoto! Sakamoto! Saw a lot of cosplay kids around the dome that day, as it was super sunny and nice outside. There were all these mini photo shoots going on all around us. It was definitely different. We ate some sort of "amusement park" Japanese snack and I hope I never have to eat it again. It was so rich and had a big piece of chewy octopus in the center. I wasn't a big fan.

 

 





6. Hachiko Statue
Hachiko is hilarious. It's just a small (bronze?) statue of a dog right outside the station. There are so many people around it that it is actually kind of hard to find. We ran into a couple of guys there who were obviously looking for the statue as well. We had a good laugh about how ridiculous it was and then all proceeded to take pictures.

7. Hobgoblin
Stumbled across this on accident. Funny, as I'd wanted to go and get a picture for Gary Hobdy.

 

8. Tokyo 109 Tower
DO NOT EVER GO HERE. I warned you. It was so loud in there from all the girls and their blow horns shouting out sales and deals, and all trying to shout louder than the girl three feet away. I though I might have a seizure.

9. Love Hotel Hill
I'm still not really convinced that we found this even though we tried to seek out every dark alley or street that looked secretive and love hotel-ish. We definitely found some sketchy areas while stumbling around alleys for about an hour. It really wasn't that exciting. Just a bunch of 'by the hour' hotels. Here's what we saw on our stumble:

 
 

Called it a night and headed back to Greg and Hisayo's place. Got there around nine and did some grocery shopping (don't ever forget Calbee granola - best granola ever). Had a few beers and stayed up late talking as usual! Another awesome day in Japan!!!