This article is based on a visit on Tuesday, 1 April 2014.
After a long and, to be honest, taxing day at Tokyo DisneySea, I moved on to
the second hotel of my holiday, a ryokan in the Asakusa (浅草, lit. 'shallow grass') district of northeastern Tokyo. After checking in and settling down, I indulged myself in a little walk around the neighbourhood.
Asakusa's most famous attractions are the Kaminari-mon gate, the Senso-ji temple, and the Nakamise shopping avenue (仲見世商店街,
Nakamise Shōten-gai) linking the two. All manner of shops have set up along the way, selling various kinds of traditional Japanese souvenirs and snacks. A bit overly touristy, perhaps, but you never know what you might find there!
This is Dempoin Street (伝法院通り,
Denpōin-dori), a side street intersecting Nakamise. I like the vintage-esque lamp posts lining the street here.
This is Hozo-mon (宝蔵門,
Hōzō-mon, lit. 'treasure-house gate'), the gate directly in front of Senso-ji. It is actually bigger (height 22.7m / 74ft 6 in, width 21m / 69ft) than the more famous Kaminari-mon (height 11.7m / 38ft 4in, width 11.4m / 37ft 4in) on the other end.
A girl in her evening kimono posed for a picture in front of Hozo-mon.
The main hall of Senso-ji (金龍山浅草寺,
Kinryū-zan Sensō-ji), closed for the night. An offering box is still present just in front of the doors for after-hours prayers.
The lantern inside Hozo-mon. The text on the lantern are, I believe, names of people and companies who have sponsored the temple.
This facade was the entrance to yet another shopping side-street. Its design reminds me of
the Kabuki-za theatre in Ginza. If you wish to find it, it's directly to the left of Senso-ji's main hall.
Just a couple of minutes east from the Senso-ji complex, I took a little walk along the Sumida River. The river heads south from here and empties in Tokyo Bay,
near Odaiba as a matter of fact. All manner of river boats cruise up and down the Sumida, even in these evening hours.
I even went on one of these boats on a future holiday.
The buildings on the other side of the river belong to the
Asahi brewing company, which (as of 2014) holds the largest market share of beer brands in Japan. The one in front is called the
Asahi Beer Hall, designed by French architect Philippe Starck and built in 1989. It was built to resemble a cauldron of fire, but has earned other... unfortunate comparisons by the public. Asahi's offices are in the tower to the left. It's too dark to see in this shot, but it is completely gold-tinted except for a white part at the top, thus resembling a frothing mug of beer.
Sumida Park occupies both banks of its namesake river. Even at this hour, throngs of people were out for a hanami (flower-viewing) dinner under the blooming cherry trees. Unfortunately, my phone's camera didn't take its new surroundings so well; a lot of the lighting turned out greener than it actually was.
Tokyo Skytree stands opposite the Sumida River. It opened in 2012 and, standing 634 metres (2,080 feet) tall, is the tallest tower of its kind in the world. Even in the years of its construction, it has been one of Tokyo's more iconic landmarks. Skytree is lit up in one of two patterns at night: the blue "iki", and the purple "miyabi", shown.
I ended up visiting it the following day, so stay tuned for future articles!
Access: The Asakusa district is best accessed by, naturally, Asakusa Station (Tokyo Metro Ginza
(G), Toei Asakusa
(A), and Tobu Skytree
(TS) lines). Of the three platforms, the Toei station is further south, followed by the Tokyo Metro and the Tobu stations due north. Underground passages connect the Toei and Tokyo Metro stations, and the Tokyo Metro and Tobu stations. There is also an Asakusa Station on the Tsukuba Express line, but it is 600 metres (2,000 feet) to the west, and is not connected to the other Asakusa stations.
From Tokyo Station, walk 10 minutes from the Nihonbashi exit to Nihonbashi Station, and take the Asakusa subway line to Asakusa (A18, 8 minutes, ¥180). Alternatively, take the Joban
(JJ) or Takasaki/Utsunomiya
(JU) lines from Tokyo to Ueno (JU02/JJ01, 5 minutes, ¥160), and then take the Ginza line to Asakusa (G19, 4 min, ¥170). Between Tokyo and Ueno, trains on the Yamanote
(JY) and Keihin-Tohoku
(JK) lines are more frequent and only take a couple of minutes longer.
