Wow, the last time I was here in Asakusa was 10 years ago with Emiliano. Then I was 10 pounds lighter with big afro and Emi had big mustache and it was our first time to Tokyo together. I decided to re visit the Temple and fun alley filled and lined up with Japan’s traditional snacks, restaurants and souvenir shops! Daniel is off to Tennis match so I’m off to Asakusa on Early Sunday morning, the perfect thing to do before all the shops are open in Tokyo. The temple’s open to public from 6:00 am and the alley is open from 8:00 am.
20 minutes from Shibuya by car or maybe 10 minutes by Subway, The Asakusa is a perfect place to visit if you need a quick fix of good old Tokyo. Ladies with Kimonos are everywhere and also there’s a beautiful temple called ” Sensouji”, which was built 1300 years ago. Two fishermen caught the Kannon statue in their fishing nest in the Sumida River in Tokyo then and this was the genesis of Sensouji temple. Now the temple attracts thousands of people daily.
The perfect scene greets me! Me getting out of the taxi.. Love the driver’s outfit! Below the drivers are waiting to hitch some riders. See the split toe shoes were NOT invented by Martin Margiela! They wear two different heights. One right below the knee and one up to the ankle. The closure is hook and bar. Cool, ha?
The entrance to the Alley. You will walk through all the shops and snacks then it will lead you to the Temple. The fun begins here!
Bean snack shop and Keda Shop. Keda goes up to many hundreds of dollars! I love the last one I am holding. It reminds me of Vivianne Westwood’s Geisha shoe collection with wooden platform.
Kibi-Dango: millet and sticky rice ball with sweet syrup or the black sesame. These are delicious! Below are Mocci with Sweet red bean inside…
Chopsticks and more chopsticks. They are so pretty…
“Osenbe”, the rice crackers. The good thing to come here to buy them is that they are made in the spot and you can taste warm and fresh of everything!
It was early morning, so some of the shops have not opened up yet and the store front is just pretty as Asakusa. You know the “Sakura”, cherry blossom is the flower of Japan.
There are many fan shops on the alley and also side little streets. They go from $10.00 each to hundresds of dollars depends on what’s involved and who made them and so on. You will see many many folks in Japan still use the fans on the street. I mean you need it. How hot is here now?!!!
This is kind of a Japanese waffle maker except that is a more like a cake form with sweet red beans inside. The shape usually comes as gold fish but this looks more like square..!?
Finally made to the entrance to the temple! It was getting packed with visitors!
So, You know what this is? These are the fortunes of visitors! Here I show you what you need to get your fortune read! The first fortune was not fabulous for me so I tried for the second one and the second one wasn’t all that good either, but when I tied my OK fortunes to this metal bar, I realized that I was overcoming my almost misfortune by letting it go from me. I felt much relived and good about it!
This is the fortune box with thousands of small drawers containing millions of fortunes. Pay 100 yen first.
Then grab and shake well this box where contains wood sticks that just look like chopsticks. Each stick has number written on it and you will go to that drawer that matches the same number on the wood stick.
Here me grabbing one stick out of little hole. What’s my fortune number..!!! It’s…. number SIX!!!
Like I said earlier, Don’t get caught up on your fortune. I felt good leaving my fortune tied to this metal bar here. I felt I overcome whatever that was.
Now it’s time to pray and get blessed. Let’s go get some incense.
Praying for everyone and everything. Yes You! For you too! And the smoke of incense will bless you. I inhaled it too! I feel much blessed…
Getting inside of Temple. You know it’s Sunday morning and there are lots of people here. It would have been much more tranquil during the week day, but hey I’m squeezing Asakusa for a good break from on going shopping in steamy Tokyo. The fresco on the ceiling below…
Hustle bustle coming through…!
More praying and wishing and asking for forgiving…. I go for this one too! Either that is at the church or the temple, I think it’s all on the same human behaviors… Interesting… Isn’t it?
Leaving the temple and walking down on a quite street, many things cross my mind. Mom, dad, brother, Emi, Gael, Suzy, Mom in law, Dad in law, Beppe, Dani, Tania, Tamara, grandma, Yoonhee, aunt, uncle, family at work, work, boss, friends, myself and my and our life together… It was a short visit all worth to do. Next time you are in Tokyo, you must visit the temple in Asakusa and the alley to the temple. You will love it for lively old traditional Tokyo and also little time for yourself and your loved ones…