Everything is called Aoyama

Yesterday, I went to 青山学院大学 (Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku) which means Aoyama Academy University. It's redundant, but Aoyama Academy also has a high school and middle school and so on and so forth. Everything is called Aoyama something. There is an Aoyama street, and Aoyama coffee place, and Aoyama blablablahlsdfsldfkj. Even in Nakano there are things called Aoyama something or other. On my phone, when I type out Japanese messages, if I just push "a" then my phone will suggest Aoyama as the first thing.

Anyways, it is a really pretty campus, especially since it's right in the middle of Tokyo. It's between Shibuya and Harajuku. My friend, Akane, showed me around. She used to go to Aoyama, but she just transferred to my college!! Yay! But I might apply to study abroad at Aoyama in two years so she gave me a little tour. It's really pretty. I like it a lot.

More importantly, apparently Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku has the top rating in all of Japan for food services. The food is so tasty!!! And really cheap!! I'm told that salarymen even stop by for lunch because it's so good and cheap. haha. That's reason enough to go to Aoyama, right?

Afterwards we walked around Omotesando and Harajuku. She showed me this really weird place called "Oriental Bazaar." The place looked ridiculous and housed ridiculous things. Mixed in with the nice traditional Japanese stuff like pottery, fabric, purses, and charms were these things:

They're made out of the same crape material as the other traditional Japanese key chains, but they're hamburgers and hotdogs!! What the hell? So very odd. But really, what did I expect when the outside looks like this:

Then Akane had class so she went back to Aoyama and I just walked around Harajuku again and found myself back at the station. Right next to the station is the famed Meiji Shrine and since I was there I decided that now was as good a day as any to check it out. Here's a picture of Harajuku from the pedestrian crossway that goes over the streets. The small building on the left is Harajuku Station.

Then, just turn slightly to your left and TADA! green!

That's the entrance to the Meiji Shrine. It really looks like the gate to a different world. Right behind me are skyscrapers and rushing vehicles. 信じられないよね。It's unbelievable.

As soon as you enter, the temperature drops like 5 degrees, it gets really quiet really quickly, and you really are in another world.

The path is gigantic. It's so wide, but that just makes everyone seem that much farther away. Then you come to a little bridge overlooking a stream. It was so serene.

Somewhere along the way there was a map, but I wasn't interested and just kept wondering, but if you guys ever visit and don't want to get lost, have no fear, there are maps. The place is HUGE.

So next up was the wall of sake. It's really kind of pretty, but mostly enlightening. Them olden people liked to get wasted. haha. No, I'm sure there's some sort of significance to all the liquor, but it's written all over wikipedia I'm sure and I didn't feel like stopping to read the signs. Make your own significance. It works better.

So I finally make it to the main Shrine and I see this family taking a picture outside the gate. Three of them were in the shot and they made the young boy take the picture. sad. So, I first asked them if they spoke English or Japanese (they spoke English) and then I asked them if they would like me to take their picture. They said, no, it's ok, but would I like them to take my picture. Not gonna lie, that was my ulterior motive for offering my picture taking services. Here's the pic:

The guy was really weird though, in a funny way. He said that he would take my picture, and take one with him in it because he's traveling the world and inserting himself in everyone's pictures. haha, whatever. ok. So here's the quirky guy and me at the Meiji Shrine:

Then me and the quirky guy and his family said our goodbyes and they entered the shrine and I went to go wash my hands again. I'm getting super pro at washing my hands for the gods.

Here's a picture of the shrine. It was a really cloudy day, so the shrine looks like it's glowing, no?

And right next to it was the place where you get your fortune. I never get my fortune at any of the shrines or temples, did you notice? I don't want to know. I just took a picture of it because I thought the tree looked like the Totoro tree. The whole thing looks like it's glowing, even the ground.

I bought a charm before I left. This one is supposed to protect me while I'm traveling. Handy. I travel A LOT.

Then I chilled outside the shrine, at a different entrance, and, I confess, looked at a map. It looked like it was going to rain soon, so I thought I should get where I want to go as soon as possible. Basically, I just didn't want to go anywhere I'd already been, so I found a tiny path on the map and decided to go with that one.

Just when I was about to leave, the same guy and his family walked by. The guy said, "well now that's an interesting picture," and said I should take a picture of me there. I said ok, handed him my camera and his wife, I assume, piped in, "just do what you were doing naturally, just reading." But of course the whole situation was kind of weird so the most natural pose I could come up with was this:

That's pretty much the way I looked when they were walking by except I have this awkward smile on my face. They were a very weird bunch, but I liked them. Apparently they were from Singapore.

So here's the path I chose:

I took a picture of myself on it because I was the only one there. I thought that was really cool. I really forgot I was in Tokyo. It was completely covered by the treetops,

it was quiet and cool, and there were no people around. I even saw a cute little butterfly.

But then the tunnel opened up and I was reminded that, yes, I was in fact in Tokyo.

It became pretty clear to me that this open green area was kind of like a local secret. There were a few people sprinkled along the lawn just chilling out, having a picnic, or whatever. All the crowds were elsewhere. So I joined in and laid on the grass.
This is what I saw when I laid on my back:

And this is what the tree saw when it looked down:

Then this little bird came really close to me! To give you an idea of how close he was, I took this picture WITHOUT ZOOM.

Then it started to rain so I got out my handy dandy umbrella and continued walking around. Here are just some random shots of the grounds. It's so serene!!

I am at a crossroads. Story of my life.

Then I finished up the day with some ice cream. It's called 抹茶金時アイス or Maccha Kintoki Ice cream. It had two little balls of mochi and red bean in it!! Perfect way to end a very traditional day.