Asakusa
So - Thursday - Asakusa once again:
Its an older more historic district of Tokyo. But as you can see from these street photos and the Asahi complex, its not exactly all paper walled pagodas. Last time around with the LLM students, I just caught the tail end, not really seeing the sites.
The big postcard-worthy mega site is good old Kaminarimon - or THUNDER GATE!:
Wanna know whats on the bottom of the Huge red lamp? Didn't think so, but I'm posting it anyway.
One either side are the gods (or kami) of thunder and lighting (yes...Raiden). This leads from the city street to the market:
If you're a tourist this is definitely a place you want to hit. Its hundreds of stores (under high pressure) selling tasty little snacks, souvenirs, and all manner of traditional whatnot. Its a bit tourist-trappy , there is that about it. Its all of the things outsiders would associate with Japan. Usually that would be the kind of thing that I would want to avoid, but here its not such a bad thing. First its realtively inexpensive, and second, Japan has some respectable swag. They have Kimono's, wall scrolls, toys, umbrellas, and untold small keepsakes. Although swords that say "Samurai Sword" on them in English - I'm not so convinced. That said one store has those rubber padded ninja shoes - and I have to get in on that. Need some Japanese Steel:
This is the place. Well- not really - the market had a bunch of Kitanas and other swords for sale - but anything under 2gs is surely of dubious quality. Either way its cool to get the weapon shopping experience. For instance, for shuriken, this is definitely the place. The real deal is pretty expensive - but you can get some pretty close facsimile dirt cheap. No big, if you need em' they'll do the job. Worst case you'll just have to use a couple extra.
Anyway - perpendicular in both directions there are these other covered markets. As is the way with these things, as you get farther the goods get more serious.
It turns out this area is famous, even in Japan, for cook wear. So if you carve fugu rather than ronin, this is place for some very serious steel.
Anyway back to the beaten path: At the end of the Market comes the Sensōji Temple.
Looking back through from other side:
Here is the temple courtyard. That pot (I'm pretty sure this is a Shinto practice) is full of burning incense. In theory the fumes are sacred and scare off demons - so you walk up, and breath in as much as you can, and fan it on any part of you that ails. I breathed some in, and I had a pretty good day, so who knows.
Adjacent to the Temple is a nice tall pagoda:
I think I'm getting good at this travel photography business. That lens flare - its the real deal - no photoshop here. Anyway, that about sums up the points of interest. From there the class went to lunch, unfortunately I couldn't attend. I had to cut the trip at the half-way point to get back and prepare for my presenation so thats about all that occured. They were going to eat at this famous traditional place that served this dish, whic is a combination of meat, mayo, and cabbage cooked in pancake like batter. Mercifully, it didn't sound that appetising (let the blog of record show that I can't stand Mayo). Presentation went pretty well - and that was a day.
Its an older more historic district of Tokyo. But as you can see from these street photos and the Asahi complex, its not exactly all paper walled pagodas. Last time around with the LLM students, I just caught the tail end, not really seeing the sites.
The big postcard-worthy mega site is good old Kaminarimon - or THUNDER GATE!:
Wanna know whats on the bottom of the Huge red lamp? Didn't think so, but I'm posting it anyway.
One either side are the gods (or kami) of thunder and lighting (yes...Raiden). This leads from the city street to the market:
If you're a tourist this is definitely a place you want to hit. Its hundreds of stores (under high pressure) selling tasty little snacks, souvenirs, and all manner of traditional whatnot. Its a bit tourist-trappy , there is that about it. Its all of the things outsiders would associate with Japan. Usually that would be the kind of thing that I would want to avoid, but here its not such a bad thing. First its realtively inexpensive, and second, Japan has some respectable swag. They have Kimono's, wall scrolls, toys, umbrellas, and untold small keepsakes. Although swords that say "Samurai Sword" on them in English - I'm not so convinced. That said one store has those rubber padded ninja shoes - and I have to get in on that. Need some Japanese Steel:
This is the place. Well- not really - the market had a bunch of Kitanas and other swords for sale - but anything under 2gs is surely of dubious quality. Either way its cool to get the weapon shopping experience. For instance, for shuriken, this is definitely the place. The real deal is pretty expensive - but you can get some pretty close facsimile dirt cheap. No big, if you need em' they'll do the job. Worst case you'll just have to use a couple extra.
Anyway - perpendicular in both directions there are these other covered markets. As is the way with these things, as you get farther the goods get more serious.
It turns out this area is famous, even in Japan, for cook wear. So if you carve fugu rather than ronin, this is place for some very serious steel.
Anyway back to the beaten path: At the end of the Market comes the Sensōji Temple.
Looking back through from other side:
Here is the temple courtyard. That pot (I'm pretty sure this is a Shinto practice) is full of burning incense. In theory the fumes are sacred and scare off demons - so you walk up, and breath in as much as you can, and fan it on any part of you that ails. I breathed some in, and I had a pretty good day, so who knows.
Adjacent to the Temple is a nice tall pagoda:
I think I'm getting good at this travel photography business. That lens flare - its the real deal - no photoshop here. Anyway, that about sums up the points of interest. From there the class went to lunch, unfortunately I couldn't attend. I had to cut the trip at the half-way point to get back and prepare for my presenation so thats about all that occured. They were going to eat at this famous traditional place that served this dish, whic is a combination of meat, mayo, and cabbage cooked in pancake like batter. Mercifully, it didn't sound that appetising (let the blog of record show that I can't stand Mayo). Presentation went pretty well - and that was a day.