Official Defeat

(and a side trip to Meiji Jingu)

Japan is, now, officially impossible. I searched high and low for my coveted DVDs but nothing. zip. nada. No subtitles anywhere to be found. Luckily my trusty sources have lead me to the mecca that is ebay, but I'm still miffed that I can't buy internationally released Japanese films in Japan.

After my fruitless search, the yellow brick road lead me to Meiji Jingu in Harajuku. Meiji Jingu is probably one of the biggest "touristy" attractions in Tokyo, probably because large-scale urban shrines are a bit of a rarity.

However, I've been here a few times now and although its aesthetically pleasing and there are lots of cute monks and miko (shrine maidens) pottering about (I quite fancy their orange wrap-around skirts, wot), I find Meiji Jingu a bit, I don't know, empty and unsatisfying. Don't ask me why.