Asakusa Antics

Today’s adventures took us to Asakusa, an area that retains some traditional Japanese charm (as much as it possibly can with the thousands of tourists that visit daily).

We started our day with breakfast at a cafe called Muji, about 10 minute walk from our hotel. We were lucky to enjoy our breakfast in peace while Gracie napped but we woke her at the end so we could feed her. She absolutely loved the cafe and it’s awesome high chairs “breakfast rice” and brioche buns. The poor kid is on a carb diet at the moment.

We then headed to the station to catch a train to Ueno and then do a 30 minute walk to Asakusa. A quick explanation of the trains. There are several trains that run through Tokyo. We had JR passes which effectively gives us unlimited travel on all the bullet trains, airport trains and the local “JR” lines. The Asakusa line is not covered by our JR passes and we were determined not to have to pay for other train lines unless critical. Well that happened today. For a country which prides itself on efficiency and punctuality the JR lines were down. Yep halted to an incredible stop. This all happened as we sat on a train that had already gone 2 stops. So we had no option but to get off and pretty much walk back to where we got on originally and pay for a different train. Surprisingly the Japanese stayed calm even though there was no end in sight for the significant delays. In Australia people would be cursing and have their angry faces on almost immediately.

Upside to all this was that we finally found nappies and other baby supplies on our way to the station. Baby supplies are not easy to come by and the main place to buy them in Tokyo is department stores. Quite bizarre really! Downside to this was that we had to carry the nappies all day. Thank goodness for pram storage.

Once we got to Asakusa we headed to Hoppy Street which has little restaurants with outdoor seating where you can get pub style Japanese food. Gracie had another carb meal of noodles.

We then strolled along the streets where we saw a range of sights including owls, harajuku girls, locals feeding their Japanese dogs ice cream and geishas.

We finally made our way to the main gate, Kaminari Gate. However it was all covered up as it is getting restored for the Olympics. From the gate you walk up Nakamise street which is essentially a shopping street with lots of vendors selling food, souvenirs and handmade crafts. Gracie was very popular again getting lots of love. One elderly Japanese man even stopped us to take about a dozen pictures of Gracie. So cute!! Now I wish I had taken a picture of him!

At the end of the street is Sensoji Buddhist Temple built in the 7th century and one of Tokyos most popular temples. The buzz of the people makes the temple feel quite alive.

At the temple we got our fortune. Mine was a good fortune. Glenn’s was a bad one (even though it was the fortune for number 88). When your fortune is bad you tie it onto these posts so it doesn’t come true.

After the temple we headed back to the hotel for a rest. We tried to visit a nearby park this afternoon but it was closed by the time we got there. However, we were lucky to get an hour to have dinner without a cranky baby using last nights routine. Go Gracie!