In Tokyo, we stayed in Asakusa, a district northeast of central Tokyo near the Sumida River. It was a great place to have as a home base in order to explore as much of Tokyo as possible. Asakusa itself has a lot to offer. It is famous for the Senso-ji Buddist Temple, which offers some amazing architecture, meditating, shopping and plenty of street vendors selling delicious treats.
This is at the airport. 7 Eleven ATM?? What??
The Khaosan Smile. Not a bad place to stay on a budget. We stayed there the first night and then moved on to the Khaosan Samurai, a great place to stay (still on a budget)! They are owned by the same company, but the Samurai wins!
The vending machines are plentiful! There are blue and red buttons below the item you are looking to purchase to let you know if it will be cold or hot. Mmmm...hot can of coffee for 100 yen? I think so!
This is the infamous breakfast where we thought we could handle traditional Japanese food for every meal. That didn't last long. Miso soup and rice are fine, but we could never get used to the raw egg in a bowl. We did some research and apparently, you aren't more likely to get sick eating a raw egg opposed to a cooked one. It just seems like you would. Even so, we couldn't bring ourselves to eat it. There was also some really sticky stuff in another bowl that remains a mystery.
We stayed just across the Sumida River from the Senso-ji and all the action. There is a blue bridge, red bridge and green bridge near by which helped color code things for us. Cruises are available on the river and appeared to be quite popular.
A squiggly pedestrian sign:
Part of the Senso-ji. I am fascinated by pagodas! They are the coolest!
There were some very fashionable people in Japan.
And some traditional people as well.
Before entering a temple, it is custom to wash your hands and mouth and then purify yourself with incense. You are to wave the smoke from the incense over your face and head.
Here is the inside of the Senso-ji. I snapped a picture of it when there were no people in front of it, which is rare thing. We returned to the temple on another day and could barely fit inside because of all the people around. We got our fortune here too, so if you are in the mood for a laugh, ask Drew or I how that went... ;)
The grounds around the temple.
Shopping:
I like the happy bus at this bus stop.
Me goofing around outside an arcade:
This is a pachinko parlor. The level of noise inside this place is staggering!
Plastic food outside a restaurant: very helpful for non-Japanese speakers!
Sushi-go-round! Every plate of sushi has a different price. As the sushi goes around, you grab what you want and stack up your used plates. They know what to charge you when you decide you are done by counting the plates and looking at the design of the plates. Genius!
We saw many people wearing the surgeon mask in Japan. It's the type of thing you couldn't see becoming popular in the U.S, but it is socially accepted and even considered polite there.
That weird golden thing is the Asahi beer headquarters. In the building just next to it is a lovely cafe on the 22nd floor with quite a view (we made it up there later in the trip).
Okay, that's all of Asakusa for now. We return there to complete our trip and have lots of fun!
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