15 November 2024
Spoilt for choice
Asakusabashi to Asakusa
Tonight I am back in Tokyo, so I had about 500,000 choices for where to eat. Almost none of them had dinosaurs.
Also, I discovered by accident that there actually 2 parts to Asakusa.
Everyone has been to Asakusa, where the temple / shrine is, it is generally quiet at night as the tourist shops all close early on the walk up to the temple, but there are a lot of places there to eat.
So I set off on foot from Kanda, as it is really not too far, but it is about 1.5km further than I at first thought.
There are actually 2 parts of Asakusa, both with a lot of train stations and places to eat, but only one of them is the temple area.
The JR Asakusabashi station is actually quite south of the main part of Asakusa that most people would know about. I went there first and none of it was familiar, because it was not the right part of Asakusa. Who is lost already? So I referred to google maps and followed the river to the shrine and realised I was in the wrong place entirely. Not too worry, the walk between the two areas was interesting and chock full of restaurants to choose from.
This is Asakusabashi station area. The JR line runs overhead. There are actually a lot of shops around here even if it is not apparent in this photo. I enjoyed getting the overhead train line in the shot.
Shaming of smokers, with photos.
I am back in the world of artisanal coffee.
Also artisanal bookshops. Yes this really is a bookshop. Now ask yourself why bookshop is acceptable as one word, but if I were to type say, umbrellashop as one word you would think I was a lunatic.
Am I back in Fukui? Oh no, it is a Godzilla not a dinosaur.
Approaching the shrine area. Tourists.
The top of the sky tree was in mist. Although there was no rain.
Some of the places along the main bit were still open, but generally in the process of closing.
That couple took about 900 photos of themselves, for 30 minutes or more.
Everyone has seen this, so only one photo of it from me.
I went into this store to buy, I am not even sure.
Back to a city with proper covered shopping streets. I will allow it to rain briefly at night now.
And for my dinner, this does not look like much but it gets a very high rating on review sites. The noodles are hand made Lanzhou style in the store, which seems to get reviewers excited. It is dan dan noodles, which is a Chinese style dish, but the flavour was much more Japanese ramen than you would expect dan dan mian served in China (or Australia) to be. Still it was very good.
Now I must go to sleep, tomorrow is an early start to a long hiking day.