Tokyo: Meiji Jingu Gaein Gingko Festival

The past two trips I've made to Japan have all been in the middle of winter, so I haven't been able to see anything else other than grey winters. This trip was originally planned to occur in early-mid November, but university exams had other plans (obviously).

We headed to see the ginkgo leaves in Meiji Jingu Park immediately on the first day of the trip, hoping that the rain from the previous night had not swept all the leaves away. And lucky we were - as soon as we walked out from the subway station, we just followed the line of beautiful yellow trees to the main street.

Actually in awe at the beautiful contrast between the yellow gingko trees and the green evergreens. Also, every time a soft breeze would come, there would be a shower of leaves. It was hilarious looking at everyone waiting with their cameras ready for the wind to come.

A lot of the leaves were on the floor though, and plenty of people were posing on the floor. But my coat still needed to last me the next 2 weeks so I couldn't ruin it now. So I found a dry spot on a nearby ledge.

I tried to get a boomerang shot of the leaves falling but it didn't work out...this was the closest thing I got. Not bad, but could be better.

And here is the main street!!!

To interrupt, let me present you one of the most failed jump shots ever thanks to my family for the 360 degree capture.

We also luckily ran into the Gingko Festival held at the end of the street. There were quite a few stores selling heaps of food. Maybe because it was a weekday, there weren't many people at this festival. We did a quick circle around the festival and the chestnut stand caught our eye. Not only because there was an extremely long line, but also because of the machinery they were using to roast the chestnuts.

The pump of steam means that chestnuts are ready! You immediately see a scurry of people line up amongst the steam. The chestnuts were super big and very easy to peel (as opposed to the roasted chestnuts we buy in Australia).

We didn't try any other food as the other reason we were in the area was that we were very keen to go to Shake Shack, which is conveniently located on the opposite end of the road from the festival. Our lunch at Shake Shack will have a post of its own, so stick around!