Tokyo with Ella - day four

We were good tourists today and took Ella to see Tokyo's oldest (completed 628) Buddhist temple this morning - the Senso-ji in Asakusa, along with many thousands of other sightseers, but surprisingly few Western visitors amongst them (apart from us).

 

We took these pictures at the Thunder Gate (Kaminarimon) - the outer gate of Senso-ji and the symbol of Asakusa and the whole of Tokyo.

The 200metre pathway up to the temple is lined with shops selling traditional crafts and local snacks. The shopping street (Nakamise) has been in existence for hundreds of years, and it was very crowded today.

It is said that the incense smoke from this Jokora in front of the temple has healing properties. Rob made every effort to extract as much healing as he could out of it today as he has developed a bad head cold and was not feeling his best this morning.

The chanting inside the temple  reminded Ella of the AbFab episode when Edina turns to Buddhism (briefly).... Ella is a mine of Pop Culture references no matter the context!

We went looking for Kappabashi Dougu Street afterwards, the site of Tokyo's famous Kitchen Town, with stores selling kitchenware, restaurant supplies and resin food replicas. We found the street eventually but many of the stores had closed doors today, unfortunately - maybe a Monday thing??

A nice view of Tokyo Skytree from Kappabashi Dougu Street- the tallest structure in Japan and the second tallest in the world!

Rob went back to the hotel to rest after our morning of sightseeing. It was cold today (8oC max) and he was much better off staying warm and rested with his head cold taking hold. Ella and I voted to make our way back to Koenji again - our favourite Tokyo neighbourhood we've discovered so far. We only explored a few of Koenji's laneways in yesterday's visit - so we knew there was a lot more to see (and a lot more vintage shopping to be done).

We stopped mid afternoon at a very rustic little coffee shop in one of the laneways. It is quite an adventure for us working out what to order in these little places given the language barrier. It's definitely not a part of Tokyo that caters to many tourists, but Ella and I enjoyed the coffee at this tiny cafe - and the experience!

At this point in our coffee break Ella is considering whether she should sign up for the latest release of tickets for the Laneway Festival in Sydney on the 8th February!  Will she, won't she??

I loved the Bohemian aesthetic, evident in many of the shops and businesses lining the Koenji laneways.

Rob slept for 4 hours this afternoon but didn't feel like going out in the cold tonight for dinner. So Ella and I found ourselves a likely restaurant close by and ordered quite a few unknown dishes for ourselves - quite successfully we thought - our most adventurous meal so far: a spicy fish roe appetizer, gyoza, lotus root and mustard, smoky noodles and a tofu and ginger dish. We loved it!!

Rob ordered snacks from our local convenience store and a custard filled daifuku for dessert - feed a cold and starve a fever they say - hope that strategy works in this case!