Tokyo Japan (Day Three)

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May 19th 2008

Published: May 30th 2008

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Clock

it put on a show pretty much on every hour starting about 4min before and ending a minute or 2 after

On our third day, as we headed over to the subway we stopped to snag a pic of a huge clock that was located outside our hotel (which later in the week we found out it puts on a show at about 4 minutes to the hour every hour). After hopping on the subway to get to Asakusa we quickly made haste towards the bridge to see the infamous Asashi Brewery building (aka the golden turd). We took some pics from the bridge then went inside briefly to see what was in the lobby and then as our tummy’s started grumbling we were then in search of food. On our way back across the bridge we encountered what a water bus looked like. It was very high tech and futuristic looking, definitely not something you come across on a regular basis.

As we strolled back towards the area where the temple resided we past a McDonalds sign but we were all ready for some real Japanese food. So we readily strolled down the Shin-Nakamise Dori which was like a giant flea market jam packed with people and full of shops & restaurants. This is where we found our

Asashi Beer

the golden turd building (Asashi Beer headquarters)

first real Japanese meal when we stopped for lunch on our way to the Sensoji Temple which was at the end of one of the streets. I’m very uncertain of the restaurants’ name, but we took some chances on the cuisine and all of us ended up quite pleased with our meals, granted our melon sodas could’ve been in bigger glasses. After we filled up our bellies and did some shopping, we pressed on down the road to the temple.

Upon reaching the end of the road, the immaculate Sensoji Temple was right in front of us. The very well known huge lantern that is captured in many pictures hung before us. Upon entering the area we came across some more “washing stations” to cleanse ones hands and mouth. We also approached the giant incense burning vase, so to speak, which is said to bring one luck, so naturally I had to get myself some of the smoke on me for luck. The temple was very exquisite and the architecture mesmerizing. The amount of detail placed on everything down to the painted murals on the ceiling were amazing. There were also many sculptures strewn around the grounds of

water bus

the temple.

After taking some time to soak in all of the temple, we started meandering around and stumble upon a few other items nearby. The first stop was the Asakusa Shrine which was sort of tucked away behind the Sensoji Temple. Some stray cats were hanging around the shrine. Although we couldn’t go inside, the doors were open and it was very beautiful. The colors were a vibrant gold and extremely gorgeous. Then we proceeded to continue wandering around where we checked out the fire station, an interesting parking structure and got our hands on some big ass cokes. We also saw an interesting sign on the ground regarding no smoking, so had to take a picture of that. Finally we wrapped around the block and ended up at a smaller temple. The Benten-Do Temple was up on a small hill. It also had the Toki-No-Kane (Bell Of Time) next to it and some neat statutes.

After spending some time there we pressed on and decided to take a brief break for some ice cream. This isn’t your normal flavor selection and the only one that was sold out happened to be vanilla. We got

water bus

side view of the water bus

real daring on our flavor selection. Steve tried Cherry Blossom (which was good), Shawn tried brown rice (not so good) and I tried purple sweet potato (rather tasty). There happened to be a pair of Buddha statues over looking us as we chowed down the tasty treats. After our treats we headed back towards the hotel and ended up hitting the Japanese slots. We got away with a couple pics before Shawn was busted (damn flash) and was told no pictures. The last place we hit was the Anpanman Terrace which was a little store by the hotel. I believe what we were told is that he is a germ fighting super hero. Japanese cartoons are cool.

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