Larry prays at Meiji Shrine |
Tokyo Youth Hostel on 18th floor |
By Emily
Last night we stayed at the Tokyo Youth Hostel. It was our first night together as a group. It was nice to be all together and to be able to speak English to everyone. The rooms were like dorm rooms. There were two bunk beds with curtains around them for privacy, a couch and coffee table, and a big window with a really cool view of Tokyo. We were on the 18th floor so the view was spectacular!
The only bad thing about the youth hostel is the public bath ... Because the area where you change before you go into the shower stall (which has a curtain for privacy) is an open area, it's a little awkward to change in front of complete strangers. But we'd rather be awkward than smell bad so we all took turns going to the public bath.
The youth hostel also had a really easy to use phone card machine and phones so anyone who wanted to had the chance to call home. You could pay 100 yen (about 1 dollar) for 15 minutes of internet, too, so some of us checked our email while we were there.
After we left the youth hostel, we took some trains and walked a little until we got to the Meiji Shrine. Sensei gave us the option of sleeping in and skipping the Shrine, but I'm really glad we went! It was very, very pretty.
Before we went inside, we all had to wash our hands and mouths with special holy water. Inside, there were lots of little wooden boards (that visitors had written on) hanging from a small building. There were so many of them in all different languages. The boards are for people to write their wishes on. Some of the English ones said things like "I wish happiness for my family" or "I wish for my new sister to like me and my family to be wealthy." One that was kind of sad said "I wish he will one day find his way back to me. My love will always be for him."my favorite part of the shrine was making wishes.
There is a special ritual you must follow in order for the wishes to come true. First, you bow, then throw your money, then clap twice, then say your wish in your mind and bow again. I hope the gods or ala or whoever was listening today because I really want my wish to come true!
As a random side note, we're on the train right now on our way to our second host family in Yokohama. The person sitting next to me on the train keeps falling asleep on my shoulder and it's kind of awkward. I guess that's the downside to public transportation ... strange Japanese men sleeping on your shoulder.
Well, that's all for now! Mata kaki mas. (I'll write again!)