A Whole New World

It’s a land of futuristic cities, traditional temples and everything in between. On a whirlwind tour across Japan, Julia Braybrook found there was plenty in each city to tick off her bucket list – and even more to add

The shrine

The moment you step through the first torii gate at Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine, you’re no longer in the city – or it feels that way. The Shinto shrine, which marks its 100-year anniversary in 2020, is just a street or two away from the bustling hub of Harajuku but surrounded as it is by lush forest, it’s hard to believe you’re in a city that houses almost 10 million people.

The shrine itself is a simple, beautiful place, very fitting for the Shinto religion, which emphasises harmony with nature. We step up to the altar, throw five yen coins into the saisen-bako (contribution box), dedicating it to the shrine’s deity. While we can use any coin, our guide Iku explains that the pronunciation of five yen in Japanese sounds similar to the word meaning ‘good fate’, and I for one, am quite happy to shore up as much luck as I can get. We then bow, clap twice to get the attention of the gods, say a prayer and take a final bow.

Iku points out that the wooden pillars beside the altar have nicks in the wood only on the one side – this, she says, is because around Western New Year’s roughly three million visitors come to the shrine. Those who can’t get close to the saisen-bako instead throw their coins in from some distance, some of which don’t quite make it in.