meiji shrine pilgrims

This is the line to get in from the main gate. I'm standing in the same place I was for the previous picture (the money pit/shrine is to my left), looking at the front gate. The police are letting groups of several hundred through the gate a a time. There's a line of police with police tape herding the people. The most amazing part of it was that no one was impatient. They just waited for hours in the cold.

Allow me to assure you that we came in the side gate where there was no line.