Have you worked out the method of my blog titles yet? If not, here’s a hint:
< Yes, it’s true
The rain had lessened, so yesterday we switched back to our plan for Friday, which was Asakusa followed by Odaiba. We left the inn early and walked through the Yanaka area to Ueno station, stopping at Denny’s (of all places!) on the way for breakfast.
< Oishi!
The spaghetti was outrageously good, meaty and flavoursome with a nice density to the noodles. We will probably eat breakfast here again! The Yanaka area is an interesting (possibly) upper class part of Tokyo, with modernish homes packed into an area where there always seems to be a shrine or temple or graveyard within a couple of blocks. One day soon we’ll go for more of an exploratory walk, so I’ll post a couple of picks then.
By the way, we saved 243 photos from yesterday alone. It’s quite a task choosing 20 or so for the daily blog post, and I apologize if I am favouring the eccentric over the scenic 🙂
Asakusa is famous for Senso-Ji temple and a large gate called the Thunder Gate. We’ve been here before, although not for five years. It’s perhaps the most popular part of the city for foreign tourists as well.
Running from the gate to the temple is a (famous) shopping street called Nakamise-Dori. Actually most of the entire surrounding area is packed with souvenir shops of all shapes and sizes, selling such things as traditional Japanese crafts, foods and clothing. The rightmost image above is of me standing in front of one (of many) stores specializing in a particular type of rice cracker. Many stores also make a type of pastry stuffed with flavoured cream, often in special shapes:
And yes, those are Obama cakes at the end 🙂
The main Senso-Ji temple is not very scenic right now, being covered as it is with scaffolding for what looks like some roof maintenance. Tourists are still allowed inside though, and we purchased out customary fortunes to see what life held for us:
Mine is on the left, and KLS’s is on the right! If you get a bad one (and could hers be worse?) you are supposed to twist it up and tie it onto a tree near the temple, to eventually be burned in the hope it becomes good. She kept hers though, since she’s “not superstitious” 🙂
And this is a photo of a fake bowl of rice, used a model to give potential customers an idea what the food you serve is like (99% of restaurants here use such things):
< Looks good, eh?
The city has also seemed to have undertaken an incentive to stop people from smoking while walking. Yes, you read that correctly! Signage such as these are common everywhere now:
Asakusa is the northernmost stop on the ferry that travels the Sumida river through Tokyo. We hopped on this boat and rode it all the way to Odaiba, the reclaimed land entertainment complex (think a much bigger Darling Harbour).
The main reason to come here was to ride the Great Wheel ferris wheel, which I did. But we had to eat first, and what could be better than a burger at a translocated Hawaiin chain?
The third image above? Yep, a performing monkey. A Japanese Macaque (sp?) to be precise. It’s not a trip to Japan without seeing a performing ape.
This was occuring just outside of Muscle Park, which is a ‘theme park’ devoted to the Fuji TV shows such as Monster Box and Sasuke (aka Ninja Warrior in the USA). For about $14 one could attempt a (smaller) recreation of the Ninja Warrior course in an effort to impress one’s girlfriend. We watched a guy try, and fail miserably. Not surprising since the second obstacle was the Wall Hang and the third was a Salmon Climb!
The complex named Pallette Town on Odaiba also has the biggest arcade I have ever seen. Again, I’m saving a lot of arcade photos for a dedicated post, but suffice to say this place is basically a warehouse stuffed with games. Hundreds of them, in all shapes and sizes. It’s awesome in the literal sense of the word.
The rightmost photo above is making Adam’s eyes boggle. It shows over a hundred gashapon machines in a row, and was less than half of the total in this arcade. For anywhere from Y100 to Y500 you get a little ball out with a toy inside, and the offerings range from little garbage things for kids to highly detailed models for collectors. If anything, they seem even more common in Japan now than ever, and we’re constantly stopping to see what wonders are on offer!
Here’s a video of me playing an interesting Whack-A-Mole game!
Oh, and here’s a naked guinea pig:
Handsome little devil isn’t he? And a bargain at only $355!
Dinner was chicken yakitori on cold rice, with cake for desert. The bakery near here (Kobe Kotobukiya again) has such wonderful offerings, presented with such perfection it brings a tear to my eye. As always, I sucked down a slice of strawberry shortcake. Maybe one day I’ll buy an entire cake!
