Tokyo 4th Day

Day 4 in Tokyo, Japan was taken up soaking up the sites of Asakusa, Akihabara and Ginza. This would be longest posting I have to date on the entire blog as we covered 3 of the biggest tourist areas in Tokyo in 1 day.

First stop was Asakusa and the Sensoji Buddhist temple. We were approached by an young lady asking if we were interested in a rickshaw ride around the area and we decided on a 20 minute ride around the area and stopping at the Sensji Temple entrance.

She introduced herself as Rei(ph) and she would be the one pulling our rickshaw:-




Here, Rei introduced us to Benten-yama or Bentendo Hall, where performers and artists come to pray for improved skills in their art. The bell here in the olden days was used to mark the time and would be rung every 2 hours but now only rings once at 6am each day. There used to be 12 of these bells all around the town but due to Japans involvement in WWII, only 2 of these bells remain while the rest were melted down for the metal:-


After the rickshaw ride, we walked back to some of the areas introduced to us by Rei and here here is the Waentei Kikko restaurant in Asakusa that has scheduled performances on the Japanese Tsugaru Shamisen:-


The Sensoji Temple is huge and very crowded but a must see place if you are in Tokyo:-




Here is one of the most famous gates in Tokyo, the Kaminari Gate(雷門)or "Thunder Gate":-


Here is a shot of under the huge lantern:-


After Asakusa, our next stop was to Akihabara, the electronics centre of Tokyo and home of the famous "maid cafes". Here are several shots of the cafe maid girls handing out flyers along the busy streets:-


Last stop was Ginza, the high end shopping district of Tokyo. A difference can be felt here from the other parts of Tokyo. The first thing you realise is that the people who come here are well dressed and that there is non of the hustle and bustle of the other area. People are alot calmer and relaxed here. It a Sunday here and the roads are closed to allow for shoppers to walk and enjoy in a much wider area:-



A busy day and tiring day.