Asakusa, Japan

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Hey Everyone,

Today we decided to go to Asakusa, Japan which is in the heart of old Tokyo and has the most visited temple complex. We decided to be tourists and visit the Asakusa Kannon Temple and the many shops that are located around this area. When we first arrived at Kaminarimon Gate we decided to take a Rickshaw ride from Taka. It was a little weird have a man pull us around the streets like a horse, but we just relaxed and tried to stay warm. He showed us many interesting streets, shops, restaurants and history that we attempted to walk through on our own once the tour was over...

One neat thing he showed us that we walked back over to see again was the famous Asakusa Kannon Temple "Senso-ji Temple". Here, we each paid 100 Yen to get a large stick of incense to burn in the burner outside of the temple...apparently wafting this incense is a ritual that cures ailments. Here, we also received our fortunes in the temple's hondo (or main hall). Luckily, we both had good fortunes...lots of money and love for the future!

Another impressive sight was the Five-Storey Pagoda "Gojuno-to". Within this building are supposedly some of the Great Buddha's original ashes...which very few temples still hold.

We also saw the Asahi Super Dry Hall, which was designed and built for the Asahi Beer Company (A very popular beer here in Japan). It has an inverted pyramid as its base and is topped with a sculpture resembling a gold flame, which is supposed to look like the Olympic torch as a whole...

After learning and seeing some of Asakusa's history, we decided to have some fun. We walked through the streets and took some really funny pictures along the way. We also played some "Pachinko" (or Japanese slots)....which we quickly learned that, not only is the game seemingly pointless, but we pretty much suck at it anyway! To lift our spirits, we had some dinner at a little Japanese restaurant which, although only a "mall restaurant," ended up having excellent food and service. Mainly the reason our service was so excellent was because the restaurant did NOT have English menus, nor did they speak any English, so in order to relay to our server what we wanted to order, we actually had to go to the front of the restaurant with him and point to plastic versions of the meals we wanted! Our server also brought us complimentary appetizers, hot tea, and a delicious custard-like dessert with fruit on top! Yummy!!

Well, that was our day in Asakusa....sorry for the delay in the travelblogs, but with the engagement and all, we know you will all understand. Also, Melanie opened her show two days ago and has been extremely busy with that...but we'll write more about that later.

Love,
Larry & Melanie

Japanese for the day: "uzai" (You're a PAIN in the neck!)

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