Meiji Shrine

As you step through the massive wooden gates, listen closely to how the sounds of Tokyo—the hum of Harajuku and the roar of the trains—suddenly fall away, replaced by the rustle of leaves and the crunch of gravel beneath your feet. You are entering Meiji Jingu, a sanctuary dedicated in nineteen twenty to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. While Emperor Meiji was the leader who guided Japan from a closed feudal society into a modern global power, this shrine is not his tomb; he and the Empress are buried hundreds of kilometers away in Kyoto. Instead, this vast space was created as a spiritual home for their souls and a living monument to the era they defined.^[5] As you walk the wide pebbled paths, known as the southern approach, remember that you are stepping into a realm where nature and history are intentionally intertwined to offer peace in the middle of a megacity.