Kaminarimon Gate | 雷門

At the end of the Ginza line is Asakusa station.  A short walk from there begins the journey into Senso-ji, probably the most popular tourist destination in Tokyo, both for locals and foreigners alike.  At least it seemed that way to us.  The crowds around Shinjuku station had nothing on this scene, at least on a Saturday afternoon.  You can learn a bit more about it here at the official Senso-ji website.

You start at the Kaminarimon gate.  If you can.  The hordes of people gathering around here make it nigh impossible to get around easily, let alone see much of anything, although you’ll get the general gist of it all.  While we were standing there with the rest of the crowd, a tour bus pulled up in front of the gate, stopped for like two minutes, then pulled away again.  Yeah, you got your money’s worth there didn’t ya?!

Nakamise Arcade | 仲店

We made our way through the crowds down the nakamise arcade.  This is basically a covered street lined with souvenir stores and snack shops.  A couple of diversions into these proved fruitless.  These souvenir stores seemed to all be selling the exact same things, for about the same prices…  buyer beware.

Finally as you near the end of the arcade, the crowd starts to thin, but only slightly.  There at the end of the road is it, the payoff, Senso-ji.

The large lantern at the Kaminarimon gate is mirrored here as well.  This is a second gate leading into the shrine complex.  People were washing hands, waving smoke, tying omokuji up to the line… the usual shrine goings-on.  Lots of smaller stones and memorials or whatever you call them are around as well.

Behind and to the left is the five-story pagoda, which admittedly is a beautiful building.  But wait.  Something is missing.  No!!

The main shrine structure is apparently undergoing some sort of renovation at the moment!  As is the case in Japan, the *entire building* is surrounded by a white plastic shell.  Top to bottom, over the roof, everywhere.  Things are still going on inside, but it looks like a giant airplane hangar or factory building now.  Bummer.

Behind the main building is another smaller area filled with statues and shrines.  This area is relatively calm, and provides plenty of photo opportunities.  This kind of thing is more my speed, rather than the mass of people I just came through.

Getting out proved to be fairly easy.  Heading back down to Asakusa street down one of the smaller side street was painless. There were hardly any people at all.  They ALL seemed to be going up the main arcade street.

Then we got handed our first big letdown of the trip.  I had planned to simply jump on one of the Sumida river cruise boats and head down to Daiba for the official unveiling of the giant 1:1 scale Gundam Robot.  But it was not meant to be.  The last boat that direction had just left, and it and the one before it were sold out anyway.  Heavy sighs ensued.  Had I done my homework and gotten reservations or tickets earlier this wouldn’t have happened.  Sigh.

But it was just as well.  We were tired, the feet were killing us, and we were getting hungry.  Back on the Ginza line all the way to Shibuya then back to Shinjuku for us.

Dinner had to be close.  It was Saturday, so we figured we’d go next door to the Maynds tower again to one of the restaurants there.  Tonkatsu at, well, here.  I think it was called Inaba, but yeah, its another chain place.  Again, sigh.  We got the big huge plate-o-fried-pork-n-veggies and some fried octopus.  But it wasn’t greasy or heavy or anything, beautiful.  Another two thumbs up.  And the beer didn’t hurt matters any.

We gingerly stumbled back to the hotel and crashed again.  Tomorrow would be another not-so-busy day, with little travel involved.

Related posts:

1. Asakusa Side Street