April 4 - Tokyo (東京)

We took the Tokyo Mizube Line water bus (Tokyo Waterfront Line 隅田川水上巴士) from Ryogoku (兩國) to Asakusa (浅草), then took Tokyo Subway for 1 stop to visit Senso-ji (金龍山浅草寺) which is the most famous Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva (菩薩) Kannon (觀音).  It is Tokyo’s oldest temple and one of its most significant temple.  Adjacent to the temple is a Shinto Shrine, the Asakusa Shrine (浅草神社).  According to legend, a statue of the Kannon (觀音菩薩) was found in the Sumida River in 628 by two fishermen repeatly. The chief of their village recognized the sanctity of the statue and enshrined it by remodeling his own house into a small temple in Asakusa so that the villagers could worship Kannon during World War II, the temple was bombed and destroyed. It was rebuilt later and is a symbol of rebirth and peace to the Japanese people.

Senso-ji is the focus of Tokyp’s largest and most popular festival, Sanja Matsuri (三社祭). Dominating the entrance to the temple is the Kaminarimon or "Thunder Gate" (雷門). This imposing Buddhist structure features a massive paper lantern dramatically painted in vivid red-and-black tones to suggest thunderclouds and lightning. Beyond the Kaminarimon is Nakamise-dori (仲見世大道) with its shops, followed by the Hōzōmon or "Treasure House Gate" (寶庫大門) which provides the entrance to the inner complex. Within the complex stand a stately five-story pagoda and the main hall, devoted to Kannon. 

The surrounding area has many traditional shops and eating places that feature traditional dishes. Nakamise-Dori, the street leading from the Thunder Gate to the temple itself, is lined with small shops selling souvenirs ranging from fans, woodblock prints, kimono, traditional sweets, to Godzilla toys, t-shirts and mobile phone straps. It attracts lots of tourists.  

We had Sashimi lunch in one of the nearby restaurant. Their Sashimi is much fresher and tasteful in compare to the one we had a couple of days ago.

After lunch we took Tokyo subway to visit the Tokyo Skytree (東京晴空塔).  There was a long line for getting on the elevator to the top floor with 350m height of Skytree. After getting on, we looked around to have a 360 degrees panoramic view of Tokyo.  One thing was evident that Tokyo is a clean, well planned and well built city.  There were 3 floors we could walk around and look down from the top of Tokyo Skytree, then we had to get in line again to get on the elevator to come down.  The waiting times for the elevator for both up and down were just too long.  It took a lot of fun away from seeing Tokyo from the top of the Skytree.  Our conclusion was that it was not worth the time to visit the Tokyo Skytree.  

Then we had some free time to visit the river bend of Sumida River (隅田川) to enjoy Sakura.  A lot of Japanese were also enjoying Sakura there by having picnic under the cherry trees.  At there, we did witness the ways Japanese loved and enjoyed their Sakura.

We had hot pot dinner for the evening. It supposed to be “all you can eat” style, however, their services were very slow.  The only way we could get more servings were through our tour guide's help.

After dinner, we tried to do some shopping to find the Ichiran Ramen (一蘭拉麵) recommended by Caroline (Fei's niece) to bring back home for Talia.  After we got the directions from our tour guide, we did walk and try to find it for about 40 minutes before we gave up.