Temples and Teens

As the two latter days had been all about browsing we wanted to dedicate this day for typical must see places. We started in Asakusa, which used to be the "Yoshiwara" for Tokyo, the red-light district. Some how, this area of Tokyo has succeeded keeping a historical atmosphere intact. For us this place is very different from what we so far have seen in Tokyo.



The most famous tourist attraction in Asakusa, is also the most visited attraction in whole Japan: The Senso-ji Temple.
To reach the temple we walked through three impressive gates. After the first gate, we found our selves at the Nakamise shopping street. Here is full of life from the many little shops and the many visitors on their way to the temple, believers and tourists.
In the many small shops we found endless rows of Asian souvenirs, like decorative fans, various kinds of rice crackers, samurai swords, Hello Kitty mugs, colourful kimonos, miniature ninjas and the 2-5 toed stockings. It was all a bit too overwhelming for someone finding Japanese souvenirs soo kaiwai (cute), but in the end – too much of it all. We enjoyed some freshly made ningyo-yaki (pancake batter cakes with fill of bean paste), and bought a few items before heading to the temple, leaving the rest of the shops, for the next time.

The Senso-ji temple was built to honour the goddess of Mercy, as a small golden statue picturing her, was found in a nearby river a thousand years ago. We forgot to see the statue this time, but due to the size of the temple, it must be very special.

At the temple we used all the options we could find to enhance life.
After watching the native Japanese having their fortune told, we wanted to try for our selves. We rattled a container until a stick fell out and we matched the character written on it, with those on the drawers.



Barbaras fortune was not very good, so she tied it to a rack, so that the wind would neutralize it.
We also wrote a wish on a wooden stick. We were told that the priest would burn it during his prayers the following morning. Lets see, where it takes us.
Finally we purified our selves, first with smoke and then with water, and entered the temple.

We bought a shuin-cho, which is a pilgrimage book. On the front is written our last name (the small characters on the left). Inside the book, a calligrapher wrote the name of the temple. In every temple and shrine we visit from now on, we can have the place’s name written with calligraphy. Beautiful. Isn’t it? (Our Japanese teacher cant read it – so we doubt we ever can too)

Next to the temple is the Asakusa Jinja Shrine. It is quite small compared to the temple, but turned out interesting as a couple was getting married.

Afterwards we were up for something completely different, so we went to Harajuku bridge. It is not the bridge itself that makes the Harajuku bridge a must see. It is the people standing on it. Teens and young women dressed up in gothic Lolita looks or like manga figures. Why? Hmmmm. Let us know if you have the answer.
We had a rather ambiguous feeling, watching all these girls. Even though there were other tourists, we felt like the odd ones being watched…

We completed the day with an o bento hunt on the Tokyo train station…. It's a hunt, because so many places sells o bentos, and they are all different, so you want to find the best one, to enjoy on the train ride back to Koriyama.