We strolled from Keio New Line Hatsudai Station to the Yoyogi area.
When you get off at Hatsudai Station and go out through the north exit, you will see big buildings “New National Theater Tokyo” across a wide street on the north side of the station.
On the south side of the station, there is a popular shopping street (Hatsudai Shoseikai) including old buildings. In the shopping street, there are tea rooms, barber shops, shops selling daily meat dishes, etc. The street is a perfectly typical traditional Japanese shopping street.
We struck a wide street (Yamatedori or Yamate Street) when passing through the shopping street. A thick woods appeared over the street. That is “Yoyogi Hachiman-gu” Shrine.
Yoyogi Shrine isn’t so wide, and wide streets run and tower buildings stand around the shrine. When you step into the precincts of the shrine, however, you can find a calm space spreading out in which you don’t feel the outside world. People say that the shrine is a place where you can get energy.
This is a restored ancient residence. In 1950, excavation and research were performed there, and some dwelling sites were found together with potsherds and stonewares. (It is supposed that there was a settlement around there before about 5,000 years ago.)
After leaving the shrine, we walked around the Yoyogi-Hachimangu Station on the Odakyu line.
This is a view looked from a pedestrian bridge. I thought this view is very Tokyo.
We rested at a cafe (CAFF ROSTRO). The cafe stands in a quiet residential street. We ate ice cream siting on the seats outside.
We moseyed again. I thought I saw signs and signboards on which “Yoyogi Park” was written wherever we walked.
Then, we went back to “Opera Palace.”
After having supper, we went to see a night scene from the Tokyo Metropolitan Office.
The North Observatory in the metropolitan office is open everyday until 11 pm except for the second and fourth Mondays. The observatory is on the 45th floor (the height is 202 meters), and we get there using a special elevator. There were many tourists from abroad, and two or three crowded lines of people were formed.
A small pencil-shaped tower, seen at the center in the following photo, is “Tokyo Tower.”
I think that business districts are dark, but it was unexpectedly well-lighted.
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