Tokyo - so good they named it twice. Well, not really. 1998 was the 'French year' in Japan - so to celebrate, Paris dispatched a replica of New York Harbour's famous guardian to Japan for the twelve months of festivities. Removed in 1999, it was so popular that it was re-instated in 2000, where it remains today. In the background is another landmark from the city, the Rainbow Bridge - so called because at night hundreds of lights of red, white and green twinkle away, giving a colourful frontage. It connects the city to the reclaimed island of Odaiba, and if you want to see Liberty close up, take the Yurikamome monorail to station U-07 (Daiba).
A traditional Japanese Shinto wedding ceremony in the Meiji Shrine. I was there for a couple of hours, and saw at least four of these groupings have their pictures taken before proceeding through the main shrine buildings to another ceremony. It was interesting to see the happy couple in traditional garments, with the other members of the party in black suits and suitable dresses. The bride does look as if she's just stepped out of the shower, but her white wedding kimono (a shiromuku) is possibly a nod to the white wedding dress. The actual Shinto ceremony is very short, solemn, but heavy on symbolism.
The Cosplayers give me a wave at Harajuku - I was trying to take a subtle photo of them being snapped by the dozens of Western tourists, when they turned around and gazumped me. But it's impossible not to smile and wave back at them - it's not as if anyone forces them to arrive at the station exit every Sunday morning with their small wheeled suitcases of 'regular' clothes so they can change back before they go home. There are plenty of people in the UK who dress up at weekends to become other characters, it's just that Cosplayers get photographed every time they turn around.
This is apparently a highly significant tree, inside the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura, about an hour south of Tokyo. I wish I could read the signs at places like this, but my Japanese extends only to a few hopefully useful phrases and associated hand waving. However, I was wandering up through the complex of buildings when I opened my guidebook and it mentioned the incredibly old tree by the main shrine steps. I would have just walked past it otherwise, but this Gingko tree predates the building (moved here in 1180), so is over 1000yrs old. In 1219, the third Minamoto Shogun was climbing these very steps to pay his respects when he was knifed by an assassin who had been hiding in the branches.
'Daibutsu' is a word familiar to many people who travel to Japan - it means 'large Buddha'. This, as you can see, is what a Daibutsu looks like. Also in Kamakura, this holy sculpture was forged in 1252, weighs 125 tonnes, and is 36ft high (10m). It's the second largest statue of the diety in Japan, behind the 16m Buddha enclosed in the Todai-ji temple in Nara (which I visited in 2005). The Kamakura one is more impressive, I think, because it's exposed and seems more enormous as a result. You can also go inside it, which I did, for Y20. It's basically a large bronze cave, with the great dome of the head above you. The statue stands in the open like this because the Todai-ji style temple which surrounded it was demolished by a tsunami in 1495.
I just love these haircuts...
