Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Well, we are still adjusting to the time change with both of us up at 7 am despite the alarm being set for 8:30 ahead of our 9:00 am breakfast slot.

Breakfast was quite nice if a bit unexpected. They had an assortment of “cereals” consisting of what looks like crisped rice with various dried ingredients, yoghurts, frozen (?) fruit such as pineapple and grapes, packaged pastries and breads, juices, coffee and tea. The dining area was a bit crowded so we had to sit at the bar area off to the side but it was nice to have a little something before we headed out for the day.

Leaving the hotel we turned left to head to the nearest Subway station on the Asakusa Line. It was nice to see the area in the daytime. Directly across from the hotel is a busy road but you would never know it as it runs below street level though open to the sky with little noise coming from it in the surrounding streets. There is a school at the end of our road which looked a bit plain and boring.

We climbed up some steps off of the sidewalk into a small park that, oddly, is above another sub-surface, busy road. The park was a bit barren of plants being March but there was a sculpture in the middle surrounded by a small assortment of flowers. There is also a glass-enclosure off to one side that we soon realised was a smoking area. Things have changed here since I last visited where smoking was pretty much allowed everywhere, now it is only allowed in very few designated areas.

As we saw last night, this area of Ginza has a lot of slender buildings, most less than ten stories high which are apartments and small hotels but only a few small local restaurants that seem to keep odd hours. Many of these were closed as we walked by this morning and I don’t recall many being open last night when we were walking around. We passed by a bakery with a queue outside that allowed one customer in at a time. There is a small art gallery as well but not much more other than the convenience stores which are, frankly, everywhere. In three or four blocks we probably passed by at least two or three of them. Nervous of having too little on them, we visited a Family Mart to top up the SUICA cards we had purchased yesterday at Tokyo Station (another 5,000 yen).

Arriving at the entrance to “Higashi-Ginza” station we took the steps down to the platform, using our newly topped-up SUICA card…only to realize we were on the wrong platform and would be going in the wrong direction from where we want to go. So, we returned sheepishly to the surface to cross the street and enter the station using the correct entrance. If we had read the signs on the wall it was reasonably clear, yes, in English…

The station is only just below the surface with fairly shallow ceilings and trains coming and going all the time so it was only a short wait.

We have not booked any tours here in Tokyo as I pretty much know my way around by now, certain of various attractions that Mel will enjoy. I was not that keen in booking too many things to do but in recent years this seems to have become a necessity. Even so, today was going to be a relatively relaxed day as we recover from our travels and take in a bit of the city so only one ticket purchased for later in the afternoon.

We took the subway to Asakusa Station and came out in the middle of a small, busy, alley. It was only a short walk to Senso-Ji Temple, one of the most famous places to visit in Tokyo. This large temple complex has a huge gate with a big red paper lamp hanging from it flanked by two mystical creatures protecting it. The temple was very busy today as we approach Hanami so the long promenade lined with small shops leading up to the temple was wall-to-wall people.

We took our time looking into every shop to see what was on offer. Many were selling food, others shoes, souvenirs, religious artefacts (particularly when we got closer to the temple), tea, fans, clothing, socks, etc. The area was decorated for the flower festival with pink cherry blossom branches (plastic, yes) attached to the lamp standards and the theme continuing to what was on sale with cherry-blossom featuring as a flavouring of many of the food items. What I found interesting was watching various edible treats being prepared whether it was fish-shaped cookies with the batter ladled into ancient heated metal moulds to cook or something being deep-fried.

The temple is a good walk along the street of shops but eventually we came to three long rows of paper lanterns with Japanese calligraphy and pictures on our left with yet more stalls on our right though these now were all selling religious tokens and trinkets.

I have been here before but was surprised to see today that to the right of the impressive main temple building there was a series of gaily decorated, colourful stalls selling all manner of Japanese street food - Takoyaki (deep-fried dough balls with a piece of octopus inside - don’t knock it till you try it!) being cooked in trays of small half-circle holes, Okonomiyaki (fried pancakes made largely of cabbage) cooked on large flat griddles, tempura (any kind you can think of but here mostly shrimp and vegetables), taiyaki (the fish-shaped cookies I mentioned earlier), dango (flavoured rice balls on a skewer - yeah, not exactly a flavour sensation), onigiri (triangle shaped rice balls wrapped in seaweed with various fillings), long dehydrated slices of sweet potato, chocolate covered bananas on a sticker (decorated very brightly with candy pieces), yakitori (skewers of various meats, mostly seafood here), Korokke (what we would call deep fried “croquettes”, mostly filled with cheese here), and many others. The price for everything was plainly stated with English even present on many stalls to describe the food though most of the time you could figure it out by just looking. I, of course, had to immediately go for one of my favourites, yes, the Takoyaki (just look for the pictures of the octopuses in the stall banner) which was quite nice if a bit blander than I have had in other places. I continued to look around while waiting for Mel outside of the public (yes, public) toilets.

Back at the temple, it was very busy. One of the stalls was for fortunes so Mel decided to give it a try (100 yen is not a killer). You first put your money into the slot (it is an honour system) then you shake a hexagonal metal box until a stick comes out of a small hole on the top. The stick has markings on it that indicate which drawer on the side of the stall to pull out to retrieve your fortune. It took a bit of doing as the markings were, of course, in Japanese but Mel was able to retrieve her - VERY good - Fortune that, yes, was in both Japanese AND English. If Mel had received a bad fortune off to the side was a set of wires that you could tie your fortune paper onto in the hopes the spirits of the temple will take the bad fortune away.

Before we climbed the temple steps Mel also took a few minutes to wash her hands at the fountain off to the side using small wooden ladles with the smell of a large number of incense sticks burning in a large metal device at the foot of the stairs.

The temple is a large square building accessed via the steps with a veranda all around it. Inside there are three shines elaborately decorated in gold and containing statues of deities. Respect dictates that when you enter the shrine you first provide a monetary offering, clap your hands, bow and clap again. The temple was so busy there was a queue of people waiting to do even this simple act. You are not allowed into the area immediately surrounding the shrine where we could see monks praying or going about their business. Even in the building there are stalls selling various religious artefacts and fortunes. The ceiling was wonderfully decorated with modest paintings as well. Despite the number of people it was generally quite quiet and respectful.

Beside the temple there is a small garden which we spent some time walking around in with it’s ornate (though, sadly, bare) trees, bridges, water, plants, statues, and small shrines.

Of course we spent some time looking at the brightly coloured koi here as, well, that is what we do when we see them in the water.

Even on this side of the temple, opposite from where we were earlier, there were a few more stalls selling food. More unusually, we also saw a “fish game” (“Goldfish scooping”) stall which consisted of a table on top of which was a long, shallow tray of water teeming with goldfish, mostly orange but a few in other colours. You are given a metal bowl and a small paper fishing “mesh” (a “poi”) the side of your fist that you use to scoop up the fish into your bowl. As the paper mesh tears quickly the aim of the game is to gather up as many fish as you can before the paper tears. You get to take home any fish you manage to scoop up.

Another stall was selling bonsai with the seller busy at work on a new piece, using wire to twist and shape a small tree into a pretty shape.

Just outside of the temple there is a small amusement park from which we had heard much yelling and screaming during our visit. You used to be able to visit this for free but now you have to pay so we gave this a miss but instead went in search of something to drink. Walking down a side street lines with shops we had to stop and admire some more unusual vending machines - One selling FRESH orange juice (you watch the oranges being squeezed) and another selling ice cream.

We found yet another capsule (“Gacha”) shop so I spent some time seeing what they had in the hundreds of machines that were there. I was looking for something very Japanese - a model of a robot from a Japanese animation series. I am sure it will take quite some fiddling to put together but I was proud of my purchase. Mel was rolling her eyes mostly as I pointed out one unusual item after another in the machines - Plastic sushi, dolls, cars, bugs, fish, happy faces, keyrings, small lights, stickers, etc, etc.

We found a rather nice coffee shop along one of the side streets with massive wooden tables. As with everywhere else it was quite crowded so I grabbed a seat while Mel got the drinks. It is quite an artisanal coffee shop with, Mel told me, very nice coffee and very friendly staff. I had a bottled “Blood Orange” (“Bottega Baci”) soft drink that was quite nice indeed as it was not a boring old Coke or Fanta. It was nice to sit for a few minutes as we had been walking quite a lot around the temple.

After our drinks we walked along a covered mall opposite the coffee shop. Here were more typical shops such as a stationary store that we wandered through impressed by the beautiful designs but also a stamp and coin store which I spent some time looking into. I collect both so was interested in what they had to offer. After walking around the small shop and seeing the prices to be reasonable I settled on a coin set and a small set of stamps (both Japanese, of course). These are not so common in the UK. The shopkeeper did not speak English but was very polite, respectful and helpful.

Returning back to the Senso-ji temple complex I had talked myself into picking up a few things - I, a few spiced dried snacks (they had some odd flavours including cheese and fruit but I stuck to wasabi broad beans and peanuts) and Mel some Sakana flavoured biscuits. There are a number of covered street markets in the area crammed with shops which we wandered through as we headed east to the river.

Our tickets for the day were for a relatively new Tokyo attraction, the “Tokyo Skytree”, a 634 metre high tower offering magnificent views of the city which was a suitable thing to do on our first day in Japan. It was clearly visible from the train from the airport (which Mel missed as she was sleeping) and today it was clearly visible from where we were so it was simply a matter of confirming with Google Maps the exact directions - A 15 minute walk.

Using a mobile (cell) phone in Japan can be a bit tricky. In the past the mobile system used was not compatible with phones from the west so you had to either buy or rent a mobile for your visit if you wished to use it. Now it is possible to use pretty much any phone there but you may end up paying a lot of money in “roaming” fees - Charges for using your normal phone company while abroad. In the work I did ahead of the visit I found that purchasing an “eSim” was the best option but it only works with more recent phones (such as mine). An “eSim” is, literally, an electronic SIM card for the phone where software provides the mobile phone service. For me I purchased a 16 day “data only” (50 Gb) eSIM which allows me to keep my existing phone number (on the SIM inside the phone) for regular phone calls and text messages (I was not planning to use either so despite the huge costs of these it should not be an issue) but have the phone use the eSIM for any data, or, Internet activity. I spent a few minutes yesterday at the airport while waiting at the carousel for our luggage setting it up - Of course, the clock starts ticking the moment you activate it so I wanted to do this only after we got here. In any case, this will allow us to have effectively unlimited Internet access while we are out and about - Perfect for navigation and checking on transport options.

Leaving the shops behind we arrived at the Sumida River at the Azuma Bridge, which is where the tour boats let tourists out for visiting the temple. Opposite is the distinctive sight of the Asahi (beer) headquarters with one building looking like a tall glass of beer and the other a “flame” coming out of a black cauldron (I think it looks a bit like a turd). It is a shame here the river is not used more like it is in Kyoto with very few walking trails and the water mostly used by tourist boats.

We continued across the river and quickly left the busy tourist area behind and were surrounded by 8-10 story apartment buildings, schools, parks and residential businesses. A few minutes later we crossed over a small canal with the massive shopping centre containing the entrance to the Skytree ahead of us.

A series of escalators took us into the building where we hunted out a toilet for Mel. We learned that we did not actually have tickets but vouchers which had to be exchanged for tickets during our visit so we had to join a queue to use a machine to do this. It was not too much of a wait, mostly the delay was walking through the endless metres of roped off queuing area to get to the front. We were soon waiting with many other people for our turn on the lift (elevator) to take us to the top of the tower.

I had been a bit strategic in my ticket (sorry, voucher) purchase in picking a time just before sunset, so we could see Tokyo in the day AND the night, never mind the sunset itself. I had also picked up a “combo” ticket which provides access to the two levels of the tower - The “Tembo Deck”, at 350 metres, and the “Tembo Galleria”, at 450 metres. After all, we wanted to see as much as we could…

The lift up the tower gets up to 600 metres/minute so we were on the “Tembo Deck” level very quickly. It was a very clear day though with still a bit of the smoke haze from the fires we had seen landing yesterday. It is quite something to see that the centre of the city is full of skyscrapers but otherwise most of the buildings are far shorter, perhaps only 10 stories or less. It is easy to see the various waterways that intersect the city and Tokyo Bay in the distance.

They had a bit of Hanami here in the tower as well with various “Sakura” flavoured treats from a food stall and a small display of cherry blossoms. We tried some Sakura lemonade and icecream with an irresistible, well for me, tiny corn dog (a hot dog on a stick that is coated in a batter and deep fried - yeah, it was very tasty).

Ahead of the sunset we took the second lift up to the “Tembo Galleria” which was nice in that it had glass windows so you could enjoy the ride. This deck consists of a spiral glass walkway wrapping around the tower, with views in all directions. We managed to plant ourselves at the ideal spot to get a picture of the sun setting over the centre of Tokyo. The views out of these windows are not so good as the “Tembo Deck” we had come from with a lot more support structure in the way but it is still an amazing view. While we waited for the sunset we watched a lady taking a huge number of selfies of herself with the city behind her in a variety of poses, obviously for her social media.

The impact of the sunset was a bit less than it could be due to some clouds but it was still wonderfully orange as it dipped below the horizon. The clouds also meant it was not possible to see Mount Fuji today. It took some time before the lights of the city started to come on but after they did it was easy to pick out some famous sights in Tokyo - The Tokyo Tower (and older, orange, tower very much looking like the Eiffel Tower in Paris), Akihabara - the “electric city” of Tokyo where you find all manner of electronics, video games, Japanese animation merchandise, etc - and the also well lit area of Shibuya - home of the famous “scramble crossing”.

Returning back to the “Tembo Deck” we battled the huge crowds to stand on the glass floor, now lit from below, looking a LONG way down (here, 340 metres down). We took a few more pictures before taking the lift back to the shopping centre.

Obviously by this point we were quite hungry having not really had anything substantial to eat since breakfast so we found the food court where we eventually settled on “Gyudon” which is deliciously sweet and tender marinated beef on boiled rice with various other toppings, in our case, a boiled egg and some veggies. Absolutely delicious and very satisfying.

For dessert we had to try the soft serve ice cream from the “North Plain Farm” which is located in Hokkaido (the island north of the main Japanese island of Honshu, where we are now) was served with an assortment of toppings (caramel, banana and nuts for me) in a soft, sweet, tortilla like wrap.

Nearby we walked through several themed shops including one devoted to, of all things, the Peanuts cartoon strip characters.

Finding the train station to take us back to the hotel proved to be a bit difficult as there was some construction around the base of the tower. Eventually we had to pass by the station entrance directly at the tower, around an office building then through a small shopping arcade (selling cheap, “end of the day” sushi, I noted) before finding the station we wanted.

Back at the hotel we helped ourselves to some snacks and drinks from the dining area, taking it back to our (cleaned!) room where we watched a bit of Netflix on the television. Sadly, I realised earlier today that I had double booked us tomorrow so had to cancel our tickets for Shibuya Sky as it would be impossible for us to do everything…It was good that they were able to offer me a refund with only a small cancellation fee. I had hoped to visit Shibuya Sky having seen it on various television shows and heard about it. Oh well, another time.

>> Next: Day 5