Tokyo: Episode Three Asakusa (浅草)

When we told Chin Boo we were going to Asakusa (浅草) this morning, he said "Big Lantern". So here we were, can't miss that ;-) We woke up so late after an exhausting day at Disneyland that by the time we actually moved our bodies out of the hotel, it was like 3pm, lol.

On the way, we had a little "adventure". The significant other dropped the train tickets inside the train! But the station master let us through after asking us the train fare (i think it was about Y300 for adults, half for kids, you do the sums for the 4 tickets). Wow. Wonder if such kindness happens back home, lol. (Actually, the tickets mysteriously appeared on Day 7 of our trip, stuck somewhere in someone's wallet, hahahaha

A bit about Asakusa: the remains of old Tokyo (the Edo period) can be found here - narrow streets, women in kimono, Tokyo's oldest temple, etc. If you want to see more, start the day earlier than we did cos barely one hour there, it was dark, lol. Night comes really early during winter.

After entering the Kaminarimon Gate (雷門) where the big lantern was hung, we found ourselves at Nakamise Shopping Street (仲見世).

This lady is hawking the well-known pastry ningyoyaki (人形焼), a kueh kueh with red bean paste inside and in the shape of faces, dolls, animals or any other things. The machine behind churns out the kuehs.

These you can buy home and give to friends. We ate the freshly made ones there.

Both sides of the shopping street (about 250m) sell more or less the same kind of traditional stuff. We have seen them in our trip last year. So this time it was more like soaking in the atmosphere.

Wonder how useful Ninja shoes are. Wear them to leap up trees and buildings? LoL

Boys' sort of things

ah, mr and mrs cheong

In front of Sensoji Temple also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple (浅草寺). The oldest temple in Tokyo is said to be built in 628.

This is where you can buy your fortune for Y100. Mikuji (みくじ or fortune) comes in pieces of paper. You see here a group of enthu teens.

Drop your Y100 inside here.

You shake a metal container till a stick comes out. Look at the number on the stick and then go to the corresponding cupboard to get the prediction.

If it's something not nice, you can negate it by tying it here. We didn't try of course, just explaining to the kids ;-)

After the shopping street, we chanced upon this traditional crafts museum. Free one. Went in to take a look.

Ewan trying the wooden "Chop"

I don't know what this is called. But you can see it quite frequently in Japan. Suppose it's a blessing wreath of some sort.

Here you can see crafts like dolls, kites, lanterns, knives, boxes, jewellery, etc

Dinner time.

Then toilet time, lol

Isn't it amazing? A map to help you locate restrooms.

Something interesting on the pavement. But that cyclist in the pic obviously didn't follow rules lah.

I really don't recall seeing people smoking while walking ;-) which is good cos i can't stand the smell.

And lastly, Japanese behave really well on trains. They don't talk on the phone, yes, no noisy MP3 players too. We haven't seen a drunk who made himself at home, LoL.

Ok, so much for "traditional" Japan for you.