Day Five: Asakusa

We finally decided to stay in the area of our hotel on the fifth night. Our legs needed the rest, and by this point I had taken to carrying a bottle of baby powder with me wherever we went, although this might be more than any of you ever wanted to know about me.

So we stayed close, and finally made it to our first temple. I think it was called the Senoji Temple. A long street of stalls selling little gifts led up to the giant wooden gate, which in turn led into an open square in front of the actual temple. It was very temple-esque. By that I mean it was a giant wooden building with rippling eaves, with huge statues.

Most common statue form: Dragon

Second most common statue form: Woman with dragon tail

Statue form I would have liked to see: Ultraman

At this point I thought maybe I’d see some guys flying from rooftop to rooftop, but no such luck.

So the rest of Asakusa is basically row after row of noodle shops where real Japanese people go to eat. We probably should have gone in one of these and just pointed to something that looked good, but we were a bit chicken and instead went into a slightly more western friendly place. It was basically the Japanese equivalent of a Big Boy. A family style restaurant. It still served Japanese food but there were lots of parents with children. There was even a kids meal where the waitress brought out a basket of toys. The kid next to me ordered it and I was jealous. He knew it too, and spent a great deal of time examining each toy slowly, occasionally looking over at me as if to say “nyah nyah” or whatever the Japanese equivalent to “nyah nyah” is. He finally decided on the yo-yo.

We bought some stuff. Took some pictures. Bought more snacks. Went back to the hotel and got to bed early. The next day was an early morning bullet train ride to Kyoto.