Japan is a country I know so little about. The country’s ideaology is a mystery to me. I don’t know about their government or their religion. This wouldn’t be a problem for most people but I’m such a Why-Bird I’m driving the Long Suffering Husband mad with all my questions.
Tokyo, being the current capital of the country is the seat of politics. Religion and politics seem to me to be so closely bound for any society that it’s almost impossible to distinguish between them. Therefore,our visit to Tokyo has mostly been about religion and politics.
I love a government building. Especially a modern one, like the Scottish Parliament or (controversially) the Hemicycle - they always feel so clean and efficient and have enough seats for everyone. Tokyo’s metropolitan government building like that.
It sparkles. There is also an observation floor which you can go to for free, where you can see the whole of the city. We were lucky, as it was a clear day and Mount Fuji was visible in the distance.
They are also very excited about getting the 2020 Olympics and a nice lady made us wear blue tops and have our photo taken with two pokemon-type cuddly toys.
Local government is easier to understand than National Politics and Japan’s governing system seems particularly complicated, although like the UK, they have a head of state with mainly ceremonial powers (The Emperor) Their parliament is called the National Diet and it’s buildings are close to the Imperial Palace, where Emperor Akihito lives with his family. We didn’t get to the queue in time to look around but we did see his garden.
The Japanese, in surveys, mostly say they have no religion. They tend to mix and match as it suits them - they have Christian weddings, Buddhist funerals and" leave Shintoism for their superstition. Shinto is the ancient religion of Japan and so there are many shrines. Some are Buddhist and some a mixture of both. While in Tokyo, we have visited many but probably not all the shrines.
A top tip, is to go in the rain if you don’t like crowds. They do get very busy and noisy on sunny days.
You can barely walk around Tokyo without stumbling upon a red Tori gate. I believe that if you go through them you will find a shrine.
We didn’t know that when we saw this one.
I am going to do a separate blog about shrines with rules and
Lots of pictures.
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