A bit of a nothing day today, as we wind-down before the flight home tomorrow. The order of the day was to grab a few last things for the family, and that meant a trip to Asakusa - the heart of traditional Japanese arts and crafts in Tokyo.
No trip to Asakusa is complete without taking a look at Senso-ji Temple and its massive red paper lanterns. Since the shops we needed resided in and around the small side streets to either side of the Nakamise-dori (the street leading to the main temple gate), we wandered about a bit looking for what we needed and soaking up the beautiful sunshine.
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| Large red lanterns mark the entrances to Senso-ji temple. |
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| Beautiful architecture and a beautiful day |
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| Muggins in front of the main Senso-ji temple building. |
As for the Nakamise-dori itself, it was so crowded that moving up and down it was a chore. Many of the people were gaijin, both westerners and Chinese, and that contributed heavily to a general chaos that was quickly enraging. When I come to Japan I really don't want to see any white faces or hear any American or even Australian accents following me around. It ruins the whole experience for me. So I implore you, people of the interweb - please consult me about *my* future travel plans before even thinking about booking your next Japanese holiday. Much appreciated.
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| Nakamise-dori. Does this look like fun to you? |
One of the things I did like seeing was the number of people partaking of the dress-up service and walking around town. Mostly girls, but also some guys, pay to dress up in traditional clothing for the day. It's not just Japanese people either - I saw several western girls dressed up in beautiful silk kimonos and clip-clopping on their wooden geta. Let me amend my previous vito of the world community's concurrent Japanese travel plans to say that those willing to dress up in traditional costume are excluded. Your efforts make the world a nicer place.
As we went back through the Kaminarimon to the main street we saw a group of girls posing for a photo all dressed up in their kimonos. Lucas goaded me into getting into the photo and although I did technically get there, it was a half-hearted effort at best. Photo-bombing just isn't my forte I'm afraid. Spotting me is a bit like a "Where's Wally" search.
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| Photo-bombing (half-heartedly) some kimono girls. |
Anyway, we shopped in and around the temple, picking up various items for various children along the way. Needing a couple of other items we headed to the kitchenware district of Asakusa - Kappabashi road. Here you can buy everything from plastic food, to noren (the flags over restaurant doors) to cooking and eating utensils. Kappabashi is overseen by a large chef's head that no doubt gives small children nightmares.
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| Kappabashi street with its nightmare inducing chef. |
Here we browsed the interweb's favourite pottery shop in Asakusa - "Dengama" for some tea cups. Some purchases insued and we headed back into Shinjuku to meet up with Richard, June (who attentive readers will remember from previous posts) and a former colleague of Richard's and Lucas' - Don. We met in the "The Dubliner" an Irish bar (yes, i groaned too) quite close to Shinjuku station.
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| Shinjuku's "The Dubliner" Irish bar. |
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| Revellers with beers at the ready! |
A few beers were had by all and, after a day dodging gaijin in Asakusa and running around like an idiot, I finally felt like our wind-down was in full swing. Beer dutifully consumed and interesting conversation dutifully had, we adjourned to a Tonkatsu restaurant in Shinjuku station for yet another amazing tonkatsu dinner. The way I figure it, I'm now just one more tonkatsu away from a pork-induced heart-attack. Better make it sushi tomorrow.
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| Shinjuku Station Tonkatsu. Oishi! |
Our dinner over, we said our goodbyes and took the subway back to Akasaka and the room above the bike shop. We've got a great deal of intricate packing to attempt tomorrow morning, so it's best we get some sleep lest frustrations cause tempers to flare! Sadly, it's almost time to say goodbye to Japan for 2015..
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