The gardens at Hama-rikyu
My goal for the day was to explore Hama-rikyu gardens (generally voted the best in Tokyo), and take a boat to Asakusa. Shawn left for work, and I spent a good amount of time trying to plan out my day. I guess I was over planning a little -- I just wanted to be sure everything went smoothly especially since I’ve never taken the trains and subway before. Getting lost in Tokyo common -- taxi drivers all have GPS maps, there generally are no street names, and address numbers are based on when the building was built. By the time I left Shawn’s place, it was already 11 AM.
Buying a train ticket wasn’t too hard but figuring out how the train system works took some time. Ticket prices are based on the distance to your location. There are different train lines that connect at various stations and figuring out the map of all these was a little complicated. I eventually took the JR (Japan Rail) train to Shinbashi station. In the train it was moderately crowded. Knowing when your next stop was easy to know because the train also displayed and spoke English.
At the train station, I was already hungry and couldn’t wait for lunch at Asakusa. I found a small standing soba/ramen place and ordered what looked good -- hot soba with pork. It was delicious and only $4.50 USD. Now, how do I get to the Hama-rikyu gardens?
Hama-rikyu gardens
I only had a very basic map of the area and a compass to point me in the general direction. Luckily, around the area, there were a lot of large, detailed tourist maps of the area. Very thoughtful for tourists. While walking around it started raining a little which didn’t bother me too much. I eventually found the gardens which wasn’t crowded. The gardens were nice, but probably could have been nicer on a sunnier day. The area with the tea house and a bridge that was built in 1707 was the most scenic area. From Hama-rikyu, I bought a ticket for a boat ride to Asakusa.
The entrance to Nakamise Dori
On the boat, I really never knew what was going on since the tour guide only spoke in Japanese. In fact, the boat made a stop somewhere and I didn’t know if I was to get off until I asked her. Overall, the boat ride was nice in that you saw a side of the city you wouldn’t normally see. It was an hour long and ended in Asakusa.
People walking between the many stalls along Nakamise Dori
Asakusa is one of the few areas that resembles old Tokyo which interests me. I didn’t know there’s so much history in Tokyo behind the modern facade of digital billboards and neon lights. The first place I visited was Tokiwado Maniari Okoshi, which is a confectionery that has been selling rice-based sweets for 250 years. I bought some sweets for myself and souvenirs back in Philippines. Along a small pedestrian street called Nakamise Dori, there were several small stalls selling various souvenirs and food items. I found a stall that had an assembly line machine making red-bean filled cakes. I bought 20 of them, which were still warm in the bag. They were absolutely delicious.
Looking out from Sensoji Temple
The big highlight at the end of the street is Sensoji Temple, which is Tokyo’s oldest temple. Temples don’t interest me too much but its good to see a few. After the temple I was getting a little hungry and decided to eat at Chin-ya -- a sukiyaki restaurant thats been around since 1880. At the door a person takes took my shoes and then I was escorted via elevator upstairs by a waitress in a kimono. Everything felt very authentic and I felt like royalty as the waitress would bring me anything and even cook my food.
The best sukiyaki I've had
Afterwards I took the subway back to Shawn’s place. We decided to grab a drink at a local British pub.
- jason
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