Shichi-go-san (Japanese for 7-5-3) is an annual event here, when kids of said ages don their finest kimono and visit a Shinto shrine with their families to be celebrated and prayed for -- "to express their thanks to the tutelary deities" for their good health and to pray for future blessings, according to one official website.
We witnessed a bit of this last Saturday at the Meiji Shrine, one of three major Shinto shrines in Tokyo that see most of the action. (The festival date is actually Nov. 15, so I presume there will be more Shichi-go-san outings this weekend -- unless the weather is truly awful, and things have turned a bit cold and gray here...)
This young honoree really stood out, especially next to her mother and older sister who stuck with a more modern look. In other family groups, everybody was in traditional formal wear.
We didn't expect to see any wedding processions that day, but there they were: the happy couple walking under the big red umbrella, behind Shinto priestesses (in the bright orange bottoms) with Shinto priests out front.
the courtyard in late afternoon
A mother makes final adjustments before her daughter has her picture taken in front of some enormous chrysanthemums. (I wasn't the only shutterbug of no relation, horning in on the action.) Click on the image to enlarge it and you should be able to see just how high this little girl's sandals are. Fancy
geta, with their fabric thongs and elevated -- and sometimes elaborately painted -- wooden soles (gold dragons covered the sides of one girl's pair), are particularly difficult to walk in, as they are sharply angled in the front.
Another wedding party, the bride in traditional white kimono and hood. The guy in the blue uniform, at left, keeps the path clear. My understanding is that couples are wed not in the main Meiji shrine building but in one of the smaller shrines off to the side. (The ceremonies here are private, unlike at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, where our friends Jen and Bill exchanged vows in front of family, friends and hundreds of strangers). The main shrine is blocked but not hidden; you can get as close as the coin boxes and the big taiko drum to wish for good health, happiness, fertility and fortune.
My favorite feature in the whole 200-acre compound, though, is this giant torii, a shrine gate made of 1,500-year-old cypress.
Our friends James and Dorothy from Boston lead the way out through the entrance by Harajuku station.
an angel east of 30 Rock
Rockefeller Plaza's ice skating rink, Prometheus and the big tree
Saks Fifth Avenue
lobster stew at the Oyster Bar
Carolanne at The Pond in Bryant Park
walking east on 42nd Street, looking at the Chrysler building
Grand Central Station
main concourse
this is the way back of a minivan taxi we hailed to school a couple weeks ago. seats recline!
Spotted this Santa-C3PO on the same floor where you can buy Star Wars tenugui (among other collectibles)
A construction crew blowtorches (seals?) the new surface of a left turn lane on Meiji dori.
We don't have a car here, but occasionally I will be riding with a friend when they need to stop off at the petrol station (hanging out with Brits all the time has really screwed with my vocabulary) and I'm always impressed by the experience. When the attendant sees you coming he leaps into action, guiding you to the precise spot where he wants you to pull in. He grabs the dangling nozzle (pure genius, pumping fuel from overhead) and sticks it in, and while the tank is filling up, he cleans the windshields for you. It's always full service at 'Dr. Drive', baby! Almost makes me want to get my license. Almost.
what you see when you walk out the front entrance to my friend Sophie's apartment building in Shoto...
Reaching for the C.C. Lemon, the third-most popular soft drink in Japan after Coke and Pepsi. A 500 ml bottle contains 70 lemons' worth of Vitamin C!
Here they are in Dr. Che's waiting room on Nov 21 (everybody's all better now). Dylan's Doraemon socks match the Doraemon office slippers.
I could work this look...couldn't I?
The bright red flesh of this dragon fruit - it's magenta, really -- belies its rather bland flavor. Closest thing to it is probably a kiwi. Whole, though, it made a nice centerpiece on our table for awhile. Then it stained my fingers.
Shichi-go-san (Japanese for 7-5-3) is an annual event here, when kids of said ages don their finest kimono and visit a Shinto shrine with their families to be celebrated and prayed for -- "to express their thanks to the tutelary deities" for their good health and to pray for future blessings, according to one official website.
This young honoree really stood out, especially next to her mother and older sister who stuck with a more modern look. In other family groups, everybody was in traditional formal wear.
We didn't expect to see any wedding processions that day, but there they were: the happy couple walking under the big red umbrella, behind Shinto priestesses (in the bright orange bottoms) with Shinto priests out front.
the courtyard in late afternoon
A mother makes final adjustments before her daughter has her picture taken in front of some enormous chrysanthemums. (I wasn't the only shutterbug of no relation, horning in on the action.) Click on the image to enlarge it and you should be able to see just how high this little girl's sandals are. Fancy geta, with their fabric thongs and elevated -- and sometimes elaborately painted -- wooden soles (gold dragons covered the sides of one girl's pair), are particularly difficult to walk in, as they are sharply angled in the front.
Another wedding party, the bride in traditional white kimono and hood. The guy in the blue uniform, at left, keeps the path clear. My understanding is that couples are wed not in the main Meiji shrine building but in one of the smaller shrines off to the side. (The ceremonies here are private, unlike at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, where our friends Jen and Bill exchanged vows in front of family, friends and hundreds of strangers). The main shrine is blocked but not hidden; you can get as close as the coin boxes and the big taiko drum to wish for good health, happiness, fertility and fortune.
Our friends James and Dorothy from Boston lead the way out through the entrance by Harajuku station.
Here at Tokyu ("Play Home!") Hands, the Creative Life Store, you don't have to go all red and green and gold.
The Gap is ready.
The new Gap across from Harajuku station is a bright and cheery monstrosity featuring baby clothes designed by Stella McCartney, plus the usual piles of jeans, a good number of them in a size 0. And studded...
Fortune Cat with the girl from Big Love, outside Opening Ceremony, a department store in Udagawa-cho (Shibuya shopping district)
Shibuya station, Hachiko exit
"Beer, Sex, Chips 'N' Gravy"
school children on the 06 bus that runs along Meiji dori to Shibuya station, October 2009
