the road to Asakusa

Getting out of exit 2 at Asakusa Station, I discovered the large gate with the famous giant lamp across the street.

The Kaminari-mon is the entrance to Sensoji Temple...or really the beginning towards it since after you walk under the large gate, you come to Nakamise shopping street.

The usual traditional goods of kimonos, fans and omiyage are sold here. Of course, I concentrated on the food portion. ^-^ First, I bought a bag of small dangos covered in powder. They were freshly made.

(I of course asked for permission before taking the pic. ^.^) There were 5 sticks in a bag and 4 tiny dangos on each...I can eat so many more of them!

Sailor Moon fans may grin at the fact that the bag was pink and has a bunny on it. ^_^ I continued down the road passing many forms of taiyaki (some in the shape of Kaminari-mon) before finally buying agemanju.

I chose matcha flavored which was sooo delicious. Also just made so it was hot and crispy. *drools in memory* I soon came to the main entrance to Sensoji Temple. The second gate had another large lamp in the middle.

I could see the 5 tiered pagoda in the background.

To both of the sides of the second gate are two giant slippers. (I thought at first that they were straw boats.) Why do they have giant slippers? For giant feet of course! *dies from corny joke*

The sandals are 'o-waraji' and were made by 800 people. How do I know this? There is a sign beneathe the sandal in Japanese and English. ^.^ To the two sides of the courtyard were where you could buy fortunes. I headed for the white warehouse-like building up ahead...to discover that it was the temple itself. o.O

I guess it is under construction. ^^; I looked around a bit before heading to the left side of the building to get a better pic of the pagoda.

I also crossed a small bridge and saw another one in the distance...

...with carp below!

There were a smaller shrine with the walk lined with lanterns. People have decorated the sides with photographs, even stitching art and of course, drawings.

I went back towards the front of the main temple to walk to the other side. Where people go to drink and wash their hands, I saw this sign:

In all the temples I went to, I never saw this sort of sign before. (I saw another one at Asakusa temple.) It's good for people who never did this and wants to know how to do it properly. ^.^ Then I headed to the right of the main temple which was towards Asakusa Temple.

It was smaller and cozier...and there were people in the front wearing suits. o.O I thought at first it was a funeral, but happily realized it was something else: a wedding! Or at least the end of the wedding. I sneaked a pic of the bride and groom. I had to! They were wearing the traditional kimono and garments!

I was very discrete and tried not to stare but it was awesome. ^.^ The bridge and groom were escorted onto a mini-bus along with who I assume are the family while the guests were left to wander. I decided to leave as well. Walking through Nakamise, I bought another agemanju at the same stall. This time, I chose the standard one.

It was just as delicious...though I think I prefer the matcha one. ^.^ I decided to buy an ice cream sandwich that had the laborous name of Asakusa cyouchin monaka.

The outer cookie was also in the shape of the giant lantern. While I continued down Nakamise, I noticed that another shopping street ran perpendicular to it. I turned onto the street and found myself in another Nakano Broadway shopping district. (I'm starting to think there is one in every district. ^^;) I walked through it and found wool kimonos for 1050 yen...but the designs were so bleah that I didn't buy anything. (They were mostly for older women.) I walked back to Nakamise and to towards the subway. When I was walking towards the station, I noticed this golden thing....

It was when I returned home and looked it up when I realized that that was the HQ of Asahi Beer. o.O The color of the building and object are supposedly 'beer colored' though I haven't figured out the significance of the object yet. Perhaps it was the president's fancy to make strange objects?

stilts in Shibuya

I took the Ginza line all the way to Shibuya (which is basically traveling from one end of the line to the other) and found myself in front of a really short parade. Or maybe a walking protest. I have no idea what the parade was for, but the guy in the middle of it caught my eye....

First he is wearing pink, he has facepaint on...and he is on stilts. <.< Still no idea the significance of it, but it was interesting enough. The procession was short and I was soon able to cross the street. I headed to Bookoff and Mandarake for my usual browsing but (thankfully) came up with nothing. ^.^ Thus ended my busy Saturday.