Tokyo Sky Tree from Asakusa
“Here in Tokyo they’re not just hard working but almost violently cheerful. Down at the Peacock, the change flows like tap water. The women behind the registers bow to you, and I don’t mean that they lower their heads a little, the way you might if passing someone on the street. These cashiers press their hands together and bend from the waist. Then they say what sounds to me like “We, the people of this store, worship you as we might a god.”
―David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed in Flames
On Sunday, we left our digs in Ginza and relocated to the hotel provided by our tour group, Explore Worldwide. I have been travelling with this company since 1988 for a variety of reasons: it's inexpensive, the groups don't exceed 16 and usually are smaller, they go everywhere and have active vacations, and one of the most important features: it's middle class Brits for the most part, and they are nice, fun and unpretentious. Paul and I spent a small fortune going to Antarctica and although I wouldn't characterized everyone as "snooty," they were less companionable. In fact, one of our fellow Southern Ocean travellers recently committed a pretty heinous murder in Portland, Oregon and managed to shoot another person without killing him. So I'm going with the Brits.
For now, we are staying in a smaller and more crampy hotel, but it's all good. No tatami mats and futons, but we do have two singles and are doing it Dick Van Dyke/Mary Tyler Moore style!
The Hotel Sunroute is enhancing our "togetherness" as a couple!
Asakusa retains the vibe of an older Tokyo, with traditional craft shops and street-food stalls along Nakamise Street near the ancient SensÅ-ji temple. Mid-19th-century Hanayashiki amusement park has rides and cafes, while riverside Kuritsu Sumida Park hosts regular festivals and firework displays. A trendy upscale dining scene is developing along the waterfront, while backstreets are lined with casual izakaya bars. And just across the bridge is the Tokyo Skytree.
Paul and I did a lengthy walk and eventually a boat ride down the Sumida River out into Tokyo Bay. The skyline in general is lower than I expected with a lot of residential load bearing buildings on the waterfront and only a few skyscrapers. As you get closer to Disney Tokyo, you encounter more and more glitz, nice hotels and above ground trains.
A view of the Riverwalk. We did see some homeless living along this area.
There are murals and flowers along the way, frequently visited by butterflies.
A distant view of bridges of the Sumida in variable light.
There was a park that was busy on a Sunday and we enjoyed a busking magician along with the children.
This magician was quite entertaining. We liked the show but got the biggest laugh when he told us," My English no good, but after show, money,!"
Paul found a nice little bar, Subtone, composed of six seats, an eccentric but amazing bartender and a large complication of jazz CDs played on JBL speakers. The barkeep even shaved the ice cubes into hexagons!
Suntory time (once again!)
The bar also serves high end coffee. (Seems like a smart idea to me!)
The bartender really warmed up to Paul when they discovered their mutual interest in jazz and we tried to speak Japanese ( which was basically a lingual slaughter, but he was nice about it.) This very well-kept hole -in-the-wall on a backstreet didn't appear to be frequent often by tourists.
The next day, we were off to visit shrines and temples.
The Sensoji Temple is one of the most popular Buddhist temples in Tokyo and a major Asakusa tourist attraction. Since Tokyo was essentially leveled by bombing in 1945, nearly everything downtown has been rebuilt, including this temple which hails from apparently around 1000 AD. The story of its origin is that two fisherman brothers tried to catch fish in the Sumida River and instead caught a statue of Buddha two days in a row giving rise to the concept that a temple should be built here. Temple origins stories seen to be imaginative worldwide!
We were encouraged by the guide to participate in a prayer which involves bowing, a contribution, pinching of incense ashes and then prayer followed by more bows. We also got our fortunes by shaking a container of sticks and then abstracting a fortune from a collection of numbered boxes. Paul got a "normal fortune" and I got a bad one full of gloom and doom. If you get gloom and doom, you tie it up in a nearby specified area and "let the gods deal with it." That sounds like a grand plan for any religion!
Paul visited the fortune teller.
Looks like the gods will be busy.
From here, we were off to the Nezu Shrine which is in a non-touristed suburb of Bunkyo City.
The gate to Nezu
This is a Shinto shrine. Apparently, the Buddhist and Shinto use each other's shrine interchangeably for regular purposes.
The ablutions area. There's a swastika on the concrete. In Eastern culture, a swastika denotes a location that had been visited by the Buddha.
Nezu. Swastikas on the awning.
Next to Inari temple. Inari is the god of rice and a major Shinto figure. This is where you pray for success in business or to find a spouse.
Inari is guarded by the fox. The color red in Japanese symbolizes strength, joy and happiness.
Apparently that two were the answer to each other's prayer.
The market Street of Bunkyo.
We also got a gander at the campus of the University of Tokyo and parts of Ueno Park.
The campus of the University of Tokyo. There are 40,000+ students. The guide referred to it as "the Harvard of Japan."
Feathered friend of Ueno Park
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| Channeling Boston Commons with pastel swanboats. |
We've had a great stay in both Ginza and Asakusa and recommend them both. We'll write a whole epilogue of travel tips and funny signs at the end, but for now suffice it to say, don't be afraid of this adventure. Even if you have to cook your own dinner!
Pancake cooked by Paul and Lou yakatori style.
"Look at London or Paris: they're filthy. In Tokyo, you don't get that. The proud residents take care of their city.". Tadao Ando
Paul's Ponderings: We had a nice overview of some different and more "normal" parts of Tokyo than Ginza. This day reinforced that Tokyo is a city of neighborhoods that are often quite different. One thing we've learned is that at the moment, the value of the yen to the dollar is quite low, so despite it seeming to me that Japan would be expensive, it's actually quite affordable -- at least for the moment. Another pretty obvious observation is that the biggest export of the US is US culture. Having traveled all over the world we see examples of that routinely, including here, where we had lunch at a Harley Davidson themed restaurant. Good hot dogs and barbeque by the way, just done in a Japanese mode. Now it's on to walking/hiking for the next 10 days or so, so we'll see what that brings.
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