Leaving the modern grounds of Shinjuku I got some great recommendations about how to discover the eastern parts of Tokyo. So the plan was to start in the historic Asakusa quarter and then take a boat-ride south to the Hamarikyu Gardens from which I could easily discover the fish market and Ginza.
Kaminarimon Gate
So I started in Asakusa, a beautiful historic area in which you can still see the remains of an old townscape and the atmosphere of the Edo area, back when Tokyo was named Edo. Once you pass the Kaminarimon Gate you enter a long line of old-established shops leading to the Denbouin and Sensoji temples. For me this was the first contact with those beautiful, traditional temples and shrines which are so colourful and decorated down to the smallest detail. Little did I know that I would see a lot, and I mean A LOT of those once I left Tokyo. Nevertheless those traditional gates and temples would never stop to amaze me.
Nakamise Shopping Street
As you can see on the picture above, I started my day a bit too early for most of the stores to open. The upside was however, that I got the chance to see the area with only a few other tourists and locals.
Denbouin Temple
Learning by copying, I followed the cleaning process of the locals. In front all temples you can find at least one basin with which you are supposed to clean your hands and mouth. It is important though to start with your hands and clean your mouth with the clean hands last. And, as I thought self-explanatory, do not drink the water as it is part of a spiritual process and not for thirsty tourists. I only mention this because I did in fact see several Chinese tourists skipping the cleaning part for drinking the water despite big fat signs in all possible languages. As I got to learn a long my trip the Japanese are generally not very fond of the Chinese visitors to say the least.
Tokyo Skytree
Hamarikyu Gardens and Tokyo Tower with skyline
Boarding the Tokyo cruise bound to Hamarikyu Gardens I could lean back and enjoy the skyline. Particularly Tokyo Skytree was impressive to see as the weather conditions on that day made it look like it magically touches the clouds. Otherwise I got to like the big Japanese commercial billboards as to me they added up to exotic surrounding. Weird that sometimes you like things abroad which you dislike at home. I decided not to go to or even up the Skytree though as it seemed like wasted money and time on my tight schedule. Instead I went up the highest building in Japan which is located in Osaka at a later point.
Leave a Reply