Just walking through Tokyo, we take a short cut suggested by Google Maps. We are on our way to Tokyo Tower to get an aerial view of the city. Google says we can walk through an ancient wooden door. My husband is leery because it is obviously not a street and Google has taken us to some strange places (including a pasture and a hiking trail in an automobile…..but that is a story for another time). I counter that other people are moving freely through the doors in the massive gate and Google usually knows the way. The worst that can happen is that we are asked to leave.

Just inside the gates a whole temple complex unfolds. A beautiful scene of temple, cherry blossoms, and Tokyo tower takes my breath away. Yay! A bonus temple. My husband rolls his eyes. He often gets weary of my love of churches and temples. He gravitates to a large tree with a sign that says it was planted by President U.S. Grant.

I am fascinated by a garden with dozens of statues of children. They are dressed in a variety of styles. One even appears to be a Cubs fan. They are cheerful and jaunty. But on closer inspection, I find out it is a garden for the unborn. A memorial for children wished for yet unrealized or children miscarried. What seemed fun now seems melancholy. It is a garden of lost dreams and undying love.

Just beyond there is a burial site of the Tokagawa shoguns. I want to see them. The boys have tired of temples. I tell my husband I will meet him at the tower, but find there is no way out of the cemetery except the way I came. I am only a few steps from the tower but cannot exit this way. Sigh. I hurry back the way I came. Back through the garden of stone children. Back past the temple with burning incense. Down a long avenue of glorious trees. Sometimes a short cut turns into a lingering and pleasant surprise.