Tokyo 2007 recap part 3 - Japanese history

One of the fascinating things about Tokyo, and Japan in general, is the mix between the rich old/traditional Eastern culture and the new, technologically advanced, and distinctively Western culture. It only took about ~150 years since the Meiji Restoration for the country to be transformed from a feudal society to a modern one. On our trip we tried to experience both sides of the culture. Here are a few pics:

Most Asian guys probably have a soft spot for the era of samurai and katanas. We visited a sword museum, where we ended up having an hour-long discussion about why a samurai would carry his sheathed blade with the cutting edge pointing up. Poor Esther... she was probably pretty bored the entire time as we debated unsheathing techniques.




The two primary religions of Japan are Shinto (meets in shrines) and Buddhism (meets in temples). We visited quite a few buildings (Meiji Shrine, Senso-ji, and numerous ones in Kamkura):








At this temple, families adopt a particular statue as the entity of a deceased infant or child, making sure to dress them, keep them warm, and leave little toys for them in the afterlife:


If you look closely... what symbol is that on the lamp?


After Emperor Meiji came to power, he kicked off the modernization and Westernization of Japan as the nation's citizens demanded internal change from the medieval-like feudal system. The following is a picture of the Ginza district around the beginning of the 20th century, looking disturbingly like a scene from a Western:


Tokyo ended up being torn down and rebuilt several times. The first few were due to the fact that most of the buildings were made of wood and paper, and highly susceptible to fire catastrophes. The most recent rebuilding was due to American bombing in WWII, which leveled the entire city (as shown in this map):



After the war, Tokyo was able to be rebuilt over 15 years to be ready for the Olympics, and has rebuilt itself back into the 2nd largest city in the world.