Views & Temples
Apparently, it’s quite rare to see Mount Fuji when in Tokyo. Even if one pays the fee to ascend to one of the observation decks in Tokyo, one may not be able to see the mountain unless it’s an exceptionally clear day. When we visited the observation deck of the Mori Art Museum, it was not an exceptionally clear day. Meh, we saw it from the plane anyway.
Our second most expensive view (after the New York Bar extravaganza), is the view from our hotel room in Asakusa. If we hadn’t been using credit card points to pay for it, we would not have been able to stay in this hotel. In fact, there is little evidence to suggest we could afford any hotel in Tokyo and would likely have been staying in a dorm room in the cheapest hostel available or a love motel, if we were lucky. However, 10 years’ worth of points collecting afforded us three nights in a room with a view of Senso-ji temple.
Even with a short stay of three frigid days (relative to Bangkok, at any rate), we packed in the temple visits. There was a climb through the red tunnel of shrine gates and up the steps to Hie-Jinja shrine and a stop at the exquisite Meiji-jingu Shinto shrine, which was arguably the prettiest temple/church/mosque/shrine we’ve seen on this RTW trip. Despite the crowds there on that Saturday afternoon, it maintained a remarkably peaceful atmosphere.
Located a short distance from this Shinto shrine, was a personal temple for us: a Tokyo branch of Muji. As we approached, Marc said, with a silly grin, “I feel like I’m nearing Mecca.” Ever since we visited our first Muji in Seoul, we have been on the lookout for branches of this Japanese home-decor/clothing/lifestyle store in each city we visit. 
So far, we’ve only been lucky enough to see two others: one in Paris and one in Bangkok, and each spotting is accompanied with a sharp intakes of breath and much excited hand-fluttering. Therefore, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to see a branch in Tokyo, the heart of it all, the place where design and form match function and style and then go on sale. Maybe our hopes were pinned a little high – just maybe – because this Muji fell kind of short of our expectations. Though that didn’t stop us from combing the store and dreaming of the apartment we’ll one day have and Mujify.