Yasukuni and the Imperial Palace

Today was a very cold day, but at least it wasn't raining. In fact, it was a very beautiful day. One of the things I most wanted to see during my stay here was the Imperial gardens, and since they were closed yesterday, today was the day I went.

In order to get there, I had to figure out the subway system. I've dealt with trains before, back in America, and while the train system here is much more sophisticated, subways were something entirely new. The entrances from the street seemed humble enough, but they were very misleading. underneath the streets, there is a vast and busy network of tunnels that lead to various platforms.















And all of this is deep underground. At least 100 feet, which I suppose is necessary, in order to avoid the foundations of various buildings. The map of the system is a mess, even more so than the JR rail system. However, it really is quite simple. In fact, after today, I now feel quite confident in my ability to move about the city and am no longer intimidated by both the rail and subway systems.

The train I took was the Toei Shinjuku line, which took me to Kodanshita. The first place I visited today was the Yasukuni Shrine. Originally, I had not planned on visiting this place because it is a very controversal place. The reason being is because it is the place where the soldiers who died during WW2 (or as the Japanese call it the Greater East Asian War), are deified and venerated, including those who were executed with war crimes after the war. The Chinese throw a fit everytime the Prime Minister visits. I am glad I went, as I learned very much regarding the Japanese attitude surrounding the war. More on that later.

The shrine itself is quite basic and very much like other shrines. You enter by walking under a giant torii then passing through to the shrine proper.















Before reaching the main shrine though, you have to walk along a path. Here, vendors have lined up and were selling various handmade goods.
















There were a lot of people visiting the shrine, though not as many as were visiting the Meiji Shrine. I did manage to find a woman dressed in a kimono though.
















I'm not good at describing places, so here are some pictures.












































I stayed at the side of the shrine for a little bit, then headed over to the near by Yoshukan, which is a museum dedicated to the history of Japanese warfare. The museum was absolutely massive. In the entrance area, they had a few relics from WW2: A Japanese plane, a train, and an artillary gun. Luckily I was allowed to take pictures here.












































The plane in particular has an interesting story: Basically it was put together from pieces of other planes, because none of that type of fighter survived the war unscathed. The museum was absolutely fascinating, though I hear it has many critics. The displays were in both English and Japanese, and started from the early feudal era, and worked its way up to WW2. To summarize the musuem's underlying message, Japan was a country who was content to be isolated, but when the west began colonizing Asia, it had to modernize, which cost many lives. When Russia surrendered during the Russo-Japanese war(which they had started), they surrendered part of Manchuria. Japan was happy with just Manchuria, but then Chinese nationalists began attacking, Japan was forced to counter, then invade other parts of China. Eventually the US started bullying Japan(because of China's relations with the US), and cut off their oil supply. Desperate, the Japanese create better relations with the US, though Roosevelt wanted nothing to do with it. Then, the US began threatening military action against Japan. After some more failed peace attempts, the Japanese government felt that the US was going to attack inevitably, so they declared war then launched an attack on Pearl Harbor.

Quite a bit different from what is taught back home. Like I said, the shrine and the museum are quite controversal, with the musuem being considered revisionistic. Regardless of the politics, I still found the museum very interesting. There were many neat things on display, including 1000 year old Samurai armor, swords and bows of all swords, Japanese WW2 uniforms, and other military devices. The uniforms were tiny. The average japanese person I see walking around today is about my height, or a little taller. The uniformers they were showing on display looked like they were designed for someone about 4 foot 10. I don't know what happened in the last two generations to create such a difference, but there must be a reason for it.

The final handful of rooms contained the goods belonging to the fallen soldiers of WW2. The walls of these rooms were covered in the pictures of those who had died in the war. I'm sure not all the soldiers that died were pictured there, but by god it must have been a large chunk. There were literally thousands of pictures.

After leaving the museum, I had a lot on my mind, so i made this video. Again, sorry for the shoddy camera work. Also, it was pretty windy out, so some parts are hard to hear. Sorry in advance.



On the way out, I decided to grab some lunch at a resturant that was at the shrine. I know I haven't really talked too much about Japanese cuisine, and for that I apologize. Anyway I had something called Okonomiyaki. There is no real way to describe it, but imagine something like a pancake, but with all sorts of different veggies and meats packed in. Then bathed in teriyaki sauce. It was quite tasty.















After leaving Yasukuni, I headed south for the Imperial Gardens. To get there, I had to pass something called the Nippon Budoukan, which is a giant martial arts arena. My father seemed particularly intent on me seeing it though, so I did. Nothing was happenning in there though, so I only was able to get shots of the outside.















Past the Budoukan, is a lovely garden which eventually leads to the Kitahanebashimon, which is the gate leading to the east garden. The entire area is surrounded by a giant moat.















When you reach the entrance of Kitahanebashimon, the guards hand you a plastic token, which you are to return when you leave. Speaking of guards, I've never seen so many police in one area in my life. They were constantly driving all through the guards on these little electric cars. I guess since their (ceremonial) head of state is near by, they have to be on guard.

There gardens are absolutely massive, and are divided into sections. The first section is rather bare, but had some beautiful gentle sloping hills.















There are a few things of particular note in this first area. First off, there are the remains of one of the Tokugawa Shogun's castles that burned down in the 1600s. All that remains is the foundation.















Don't be fooled, that thing is absolutely huge, and a pain to climb as well.
Down a little path that I saw while resting, I came across this:















Its an ancient emergancy store house for the emperor. According to a nearby sign, there used to be rumors that there were tunnels connecting it to palace. I didn't see any tunnels, but who knows, maybe they were filled in?

Past this area, I came to a large guard house.















Past it was an area with trees that were gathered from every prefecture. It was a rather neat display.
















While taking pictures, I was approached by an older Japanese woman, who with a very bad english accent, told me that up ahead was a beautiful pond area, and that I would be insulting my family if I did not take more pictures of that than of the prefecture trees. So as per her request, here we go:











































After the pond area, the path loops back to the guard house. Another path leads to a museum housing Imperial art. Again, no pictures were allowed. And not much further than that was an exit. The gardens are the closest you can get to the Imperial Palace, which is off limits to civillians, though there is one last peace of the palace grounds worth seeing after you leave; the Nishibashi bridge.















After leaving the palace grounds, I left and walked around a little bit more before taking the chikatetsu back to Shinjuku. From there, I grabbed something to eat at an udon restaurent, then spent the remainder of the evening hanging out at an arcade in Shinjuku, which is an experience of itself. Arcades in Japan are more like social hotspots than gaming places. You see all sorts of people there: old, young, etc.

All in all, it was a great day.