Sunday, August 20, 2017

Japan: Tokyo- Plastic Food Art and Zen Gardens

Japan is really interesting in its fanaticism with plastic food art. Adam even came across a class online about mastering the art of it, and it seems to be a popular industry here. Almost every restaurant has a display of plastic food, very realistic in appearance, outside of their main door trying to lure you in. It truly is a craft, just look at the examples (all the "food" below is plastic):







Now, feeling like professionals at navigating the Tokyo metro system, we set out for Meiji Jingu, a massive park and garden complex with a famous shrine in the middle. The park complex itself is free to explore, with little side gardens that you can pay a "maintenance fee" to explore. We opted for the fee option for the Iris Garden, as they are my second favorite flower and I love looking at them.

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

For the Iris Garden, I think that we were about a week too early, as there were SO MANY irises with buds but very few with actual blossoms.

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

Unfortunately, the main part of the primary shine was under renovation so there wasn't too much to see there, but the structure was still quite captivating to see.

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu