tokyo v1.2

up early with the sun. more espresso. more red bull. a little shaky.

to asakusa, what is known as "old edo." at the station we went a little out of our way to see the sumida river wit its barges and water buses. then back on track to finding part of the city that has been lost in time.

the nakamise-dori shopping market is enfringed with little red paper laterns. at night they are all lit up. to get to the market we had to pass through the kaminarimon (thunder gate). at the rear of the market we found the senso-ji temple complete with its 53m high, 5 storey pagoda. you could say it was an easy find. at the back of this giant temple we found the smaller, hidden gem of asakusa-jinja. luckily, a couple was engaged in a traditional wedding that lyds and i watched. the bride's face was painted white, a stark contrast to her ornate balck hair. the groom carried a fan. at the temple we also discovered a statue of a lion/panther meant to guard the temple from evil spirits. a cat was curled up asleep from the sun under is legs. we left the temple area through the niten-man - the togugawa shogun's private enterance.

as we wandered away from the temples and market down traditional, narrow streets. a musical parade passed us by playing traditional instruments, a kind of asian christmas carol scene. at another corner we were treated to a free taiko drum concert. for lunch we found a little sushi restaurant out of the way and half-hidden through a hobbit door. the sushi that came had so much wasabi on it. lyds gave up after being a champ and eating several pieces. i finished both plates, but not without crying from the effort. the wasabi seemed to climb up my nose and try and force its way back out through my eyes. the elderly japanese ladies sitting across from us were entertained by my pain. after lunch i could feel the wasabi burning a hole in my stomach. lydia bought me a sundae in the hopes that the ice cream would put out the flames.

this part of the city, asakusa, has remained untouched from the lights and glitter of the rest of the metropolis. you can still see obasans in kimonos doing the daily shopping for their house.

after spending the morning in "old edo" we left the eastern part of the city to travel west to meiji-jingu, tokyo's oldest shinto shrine. it lies within 70 forested hectares (175 acres) amongst 100,000 trees. it is an amazingly quiet retreat just steps from the chaos of harajuku. it was a nice reprieve. once we reached the shrine lyds and i purified ourselves at the chozuya (water trough) by washing our hands. at the haidon (hall of worship) we tossed coins, bowed twice, prayed, clapped twice, and bowed again before retreating. pros. then we purchased wooden tablets from the monks, and spent time constructing in ink our own prayers on them. then we were allowed to hang them from a tree in the shrine's courtyard to be part of the monk's morning prayers.

after visiting the shrine we visited takeshita-dori, an alley in harajuku that features the girls that gwen stefani sings about. the fashion is a cross between lingerie, goth, lolita and little bo peep. they call it cos play. i don't know what to call it. we then ate dinner in a sushi restaurant where the dishes come past you on a conveyor belt. in a city of 33.4 million plus two - the guy sitting beside us recognized us from the tokyo dome the other day!

after dinner we went back to the hotel to change into our finery for experiencing the ginza at night. i called my dad from there as it was the same place he had told me about time and time again. we then tried to make it to the roppongi club district, but unfortunatey, and confusingly, the subway system doesn't run as late on weekends. lyds and i had to abandon our plan at ebisu and caught the very last train home a very long way from our hotel. it was only thanks to a guy in the us navy that we weren't stranded. the subway ride on the way home was as crowded as i had heard about. on the walk home from the station we saw a businessman passed out on the street in full suit, with his labtop beside him. i knew this to be commonplace, but it was still a striking sight.

work hard. play hard.