Tokyo sights: shrine, temple, beerhall

A full day on Monday, starting at the Meiji Shrine near Shibuya, and ending at the Lion Beerhall in Ginza.

The torii at the entrance to the Meiji shrine is quite magnificent.  The shrine is for worship of the great modernizing Meiji emperor and his wife.

Wine barrels:

Each barrel was individually labeled.  Some of that wine looked like really high-quality stuff, 1er Cru and Grand Cru.  Hope the spirit of the emperor appreciates it.

For a small fee, you can purchase a votive block, write your wishes on it, and hang it along with the others.  Visitors from around the world write messages in many different languages.

It can be quite an experience browsing them.  Some are funny, some are heartbreaking.

This is one is deeply heartfelt:

This one, from a repeat visitor, not so much:

Here's one in Korean that starts: "Jiseon! Let's not fight, and live a long long healthy life together."

In French: "Please, I ??? of/to you with all my heart and all my soul in my body, the soul and spirit of my dear grandmother -- Thank you, Alexandre" (after which he writes in Romanized form the Japanese word for 'France').  [I'm afraid I can't make out the crucial verb in this sentence -- help?]

Workers at the shrine worked constantly to sweep the gravel pathways clear of leaves, using long-handled straw brooms.

Lunch at the Shinseidō Bookstore Café Comfort in Shimbōjō, which is full of fantastic book stores.  I think the tiny size of this creamer is adorable.

The large, active Asakusa Buddhist Temple.

Part of it was under construction, but at least there was this cool dragon image to look at.

The scaffolding that the workers were on looked particularly scary to me.

Nearby, a statue of the great Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō:

We had an afternoon drink and cheese plate at this amazing little bar nearby called Kamiya Bar, home of the drink known as "Denki Buran", which I think means "electric brandy".  It's some sort of house drink that's isn't quite brandy.  The place was full of ancient men and women, regular customers, many of whom appears to live there.  Quite a few were drinking beer from pitchers larger than their heads.

Then, for dinner, the Lion Beerhall in Ginza, another wonderful old building.

In the foreground here are the remains of something that could have been made by my grandmother: pickled herring, onions, sauerkraut, sour cream:

More apparently East European Jewish food: lox, red onion, capers:

Enormous garlic bread, served in a mug featuring the "King of Beer":

It's really nice to relax with a big mug of beer after a long day of sight-seeing or conference-going.  My host said his dream is to retire to Yokohama and go to the Kamiya Bar and Lion Beerhall every day.