Day 25 : Stairs

Today's plans took me to the Akasaka area.

My first stop was Hie Shrine. I was surprised to see that most of the visitors were foreigners, which I hadn't seen at any of the other shrines I'd been to yet. Maybe because it was the middle of the workday? Not totally sure but it wasn't very busy overall anyway.

It was also intersting because the shrine itself was like on top of a hill and had a large set of stairs that I had to climb to get to the top. But the main entrance also had an escalator! I don't think I've personally seen too many exposed escalators (is it closed when it rains or snows?), so that was pretty weird to me. How can they keep an out-door escalator working properly when in Seattle they'll just be randomly broken down inside building all the time??

I also lined up to get my a goshuin. They handed out numbers to be called when they were done since they had a bit of a backlog and it was surprisingly nice and heavy. It's almost like they're asking you to keep it! Just kidding, I would never but it was nice

The final thing I wanted to see at the shrine was the back stairs which have a torii gate tunnel. You can look at this article to see photos, but the article also calls the shrine hidden which I couldn't say is further from the truth since it's like one of the main ones that comes up when you're looking for places to visit.

Anyway, when I went to go check out the stairs and leave through them, I found that I was unable to because so many people were just standing in the narrow tunnel taking photos. I'll admit now that this is sort of a theme today and maybe a new personal pet peave of mine. I can understand taking a photo. I would do it myself after all. But please don't stair on the stairs taking dozens of retakes for however long at a time. Needless to say, I doubled back and left the main way. I was so embittered that I didn't even take a photo to prove I'd gone. SMH.

I had planned to leave Akasaka and head northwest towards the Shinjuku area but something on Google Maps caught my eye. What could "Harry Potter Stairs & Time Turner" even be? Since it wasn't too far, I decided to check it out.

It turned out that the city of Akasaka was having a Harry Potter collaboration, I think in celebration of the theater production of the Japanese version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which was playing in Akasaka.

It turned out that the Harry Potter Stairs were, in fact, stairs and the Time Turner was a statue.

Couldn't be me standing on the stairs to take a photo. TBF, I was there for like 5 seconds and they were wide stairs

The whole area had Harry Potter theming. Although there was a Harry Potter cafe, I didn't have a reservation. But I was able to get some takeout items at a shop next door! I got a couple of donuts and a Gryffindor strawberry drink.

I had initially considered getting the entire set of 4 donuts but opted not to since I'd have to eat them all myself. Don't get me wrong, I definitely could, but I probably shouldn't. The donuts I got came in a Hufflepuff box that I'll use to store knick knacks. I'm not sure if I'd recommend the donuts since they were just OK and cost nearly $5 each (they were ¥790 each after tax). I guess you do get the box though, so really a personal decision to weigh I guess.

The drink was pretty good too and to me seemed like a better value at ¥1,980 since a drink and re-usable water bottle would usually be more than that I think. I guess your wallet would be hurting if you bought all 4 though.

After browsing the area for a while longer, I decided to head to my next destination before it got dark. Finally, I was going to Suga Shrine, the location of the iconic stairs depicted at the end of the 2016 masterpiece your name.. If you're unfamiliar you can watch the final scene in this YouTube video, but spoiler warning I guess.

Anyway, Suga Shrine was pretty nice overall but a little smaller than I expected. I think they must be doing pretty well after their association with the movie since they were selling themed emas and even goshuin. I actually did get a goshuin, but it was one of the paper ones and I thought it was interesting that she finished the calligraphy with a marker instead of a brush. I personally don't mind either way, but had assumed that you had to use a brush so TIL!

The stairs ended up being stairs! Nothing too crazy. Even though there was hardly anyone at the main area of the shrine, there were more than a handful of people taking photos at the stairs. I managed to get a shot with only one other person at the bottom taking a photo but next to me there were a few dudes posted up, I think waiting for the sunset??

I had the gall to actually walk down the stairs and I don't know why it made me feel bad to interrupt them taking photos. And then it made me angry that I felt bad about that LOL When I looked back one of the people had walked a bit up the stairs to have someone else take photos of them on the steps. At least it wasn't super busy and people could walk up and down I guess.