Tokyo : Sensoji Temple and Asakusa

Sensoji temple is one of the most visited spots in Tokyo. Located in Asakusa, Sensoji is visited by almost 30 million visitors each year.

Senso-ji, or as the name goes “Asakusa Kannon no Sensoji” is a Buddhist temple which was built in the 7^th century. Two fishermen brothers found a statue of Kannon, the female goddess of mercy on one of their fishing trips in the Sumida river. The temple was completed in 645 making it Tokyo’s oldest temple. The area suffered considerable damage during the World War air raids and the current buildings are post World War reconstructions.

The entrance to the shrine is through the “Kaminarimon gate”. This gate along with the inner “Hozomon gate” and their large lanterns, are favourite spots among tourists for getting photographed, making Sensoji the symbol of Tokyo.

A little ahead is the Main Hall, “Kannondo Hall” which houses the statues of Kannon along with the protector deities Bonten and Taishakuten.

It is said that a golden statue of Kannon is enshrined in the Main hall. It is kept hidden from public view since the 7^th century, following a revelation in a dream to Buddhist priest Shokai Shonnin during his visit to the temple.

Also on the grounds of the temple are several other structures and shrines. 

Some of them being the five storied Pagoda, which houses relics of the Buddha on its topmost floor.

Best time to visit the shrine is early in the morning when the tourist buses are yet to arrive. The Sensoji Temple is illuminated every evening from around sunset to 11 pm.         

The shrine is especially crowded during its events and ranks among one of the most visited shrines on New Year’s Day.

Address: Asakusa, Taito Ku, 2-3-1, Asakusa Kannon no Senso-ji

Opening Hours: Temple grounds : 24 hours

                           Main Hall: 6:00 to 17:00 hrs.

Admission: Free

Access: Nearest station Asakusa Station on Tokyo Metro Ginza line, Toei Subway Asakusa Line, Tsukuba Express Line and Tobu Ikesaki Line.

Approach to the Senso-ji temple is through a street called “Nakamise dori” which stretches from the outer gate to the temple’s second gate. 

The street is lined with shops selling souvenirs, handicrafts, Japanese clothes, snacks and trinkets and is an ideal place for most tourists to pick up souvenirs of their visit to Tokyo. 

The stores have some colourful paintings on their shutters, but you should visit the area really early in the day to see them. 

Asakusa is one of the few places in Japan, where the man powered vehicles “Jin rikisha” still operate. These are popular with tourists looking for a joyride while exploring the area. The Jinrikisha puller also serves as the tour guide. A 30 minute ride costs between 7000-10000 yen for 2 passengers.

Sightseeing and pleasure Cruises are available in the nearby Sumida river. The Tokyo water bus also connects historical Asakusa to the relatively newly developed Odaiba area.

Sumida park which is located on both banks of the Sumida river is a popular Cherry blossom viewing spot. It is also the site of the Sumida River Fireworks in late July.

Asakusa used to serve as Tokyo, rather Edo’s entertainment district, complete with kabuki theatres and a red light district. Having suffered considerable damage during the World War, the area’s entertainment district lost its popularity. The nearby Hanayashiki Amusement Park, once used to be a popular amusement park with its roller coasters, Ferris Wheel and carousel. It has lost its popularity to its more advanced competitors.

Asahi Beer tower with its interesting architecture and the currently under construction, Tokyo Sky tree are located close by.

Tokyo - An Outsider's View

Tokyo. An ultramodern city, voted as one of the most livable cities in the world it is also one of the most expensive and most populous metropolis in the world. Most people dream to visit Tokyo atleast once in their lifetime.

Tokyo, known by its old name of Edo until 1868, was a small castle town. This sleepy fishing village became Japan’s political centre in the 17^th century when the Tokugawa shogun Ieyasu set up his feudal government here. As part of the Meiji restoration in 1868, the emperor moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo. The erstwhile Edo castle became the Imperial Palace and what was a political and cultural capital turned to the nation’s capital.

The city suffered considerable damage in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and was rebuilt only to be followed up by the air raids during World War II. The city along with other parts of the affected areas was rebuilt and the city as we see it today has no traces of these catastrophes.

The city today has its share of ultramodern skyscrapers, infrastructure and offcourse the layers and layers of highways criss-crossing each other. At times, when driving through Tokyo, the road just does not touch the ground level and you feel the highways are built in mid-air. None of these make the city a concrete jungle, as much as it sounds. The city has its share of open spaces- parks and recreation areas.

Tokyo is one of the most preferred places for people to live. The administrative and business capital of Japan, is also its most populous city. The largest number of expat population also resides in Tokyo, followed only by Osaka. Foreigners prefer to live in Tokyo, because they can socialize with other foreigners, which is difficult in smaller cities. It is also the most convenient place to live in, because of its location- central Japan. Since most Tokyoites are used to having foreigners around them, they may be more tolerant and open to foreigners. Also a larger part of the population can speak in English than in most other cities in Japan. bare minimum knowledge of English can help you move around in the city easily.

Tokyo has many schools and universities offering courses in English, which may be rare to find in smaller cities. This is our personal experience as the city we live in has no International or English school, except for a kindergarten which offers an International course. We had to settle for it for our kid as we don’t have a choice.

Notorious for being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Tokyo does live up to its reputation.  Perhaps most expensive of all, is Housing. People pay exorbitant rent or EMI’s to live in amazingly small spaces. No wonder homes in Tokyo are comparatively smaller. Some apartment buildings have limited or no parking lots and people who own cars, have to rent parking lots elsewhere. Not to mention, the monthly parking rent is expensive too.

If you intend to live in Tokyo and own a car, one of your biggest expenses is surely  Parking charges. Parking in most places is difficult to find and not to mention - expensive. Free parking space is virtually non existent. Parking charges vary on weekdays and weekends and holidays. Don’t expect weekend charges to be cheaper- on the contrary, it is more expensive in tourist areas. We learnt the hard way. We had parked our car in the Asakusa area for a couple of hours. The parking charges are always mentioned in Japanese and what you calculate is not always what you end up paying. No Japanese person can be of much help in calculating ( I would rather say deciphering) the parking charges as they sometimes do not know for themselves, courtesy the fine print.

The various highways that pass through Tokyo have tolls which also add up to the cost of driving in Tokyo. The traffic on work days can be unnerving. Most officegoers prefer to use public transportation to save themselves from the hassles of the commute. Most employers pay a fixed allowance to employees for their daily commute.

Tokyo’s transportation system makes commuting very convenient. The Tokyo Metro is the best and quickest way to get about anywhere within town. The JR East line connects most important places within the city. Believe it or not, taking the train or Metro is the fastest, most convenient and cheapest (in my opinion) to travel within Tokyo. Few areas like Odaiba are also served by the Yurikamome monorail.

Tokyo has a lot of tourist spots to offer for almost any kind of tourist. There are the business districts, the shrines and temples, the parks, the amusement and theme parks, shopping areas. Name it and you have it. Hotel rooms in Tokyo tend to be slightly higher than in other cities. If you intend to just spend a few hours in the hotel room to catch up on sleep or rest a bit, a business hotel like Route Inn or Tokyo Inn would be a good option. If you are on a shoestring budget, there are cheaper options like guest houses or manga cafes. The popular regular hotels are a bit pricey, but offcourse worth the facilities. Staying in a hotel slightly away from central Tokyo or even in the neighbouring prefectures of Kanagawa or Chiba or Saitama could be easier on the pocket.

The airports at Narita and Haneda are both located closer to Tokyo. Limousine buses are the best way to reach Tokyo from both airports. The Airport express connects Tokyo to Narita by train, while monorail connects Haneda to Tokyo.

For more details check out this site :  http://www.tokyoessentials.com/arriving.html

It took me a little over 100 posts before I finally started to write about Tokyo.

Living about 200 kms up north of Iwaki, we have often visited Tokyo. Though I miss the hustle, bustle and lively life in Tokyo, I am content with the slow and easy pace of life in Iwaki. We have visited Tokyo quite a few times over the last 18 months. We visited many of Tokyo's attractions during these trips and I will post more about each of these places in a mini series, beginning my next post.

Some useful links:

http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/

http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/

http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/pdf/routemap_en.pdf

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/pdf/RouteMap_majorrailsub.pdf

Anpanman Children's Museum - Yokohama

Our latest visit to Yokohama was partially because we wanted to take our daughter to the Anpanman Children’s Museum. A Japanese friend had recommended this place quiet a few times. Our daughter is not a big fan of Anpanman, but when we asked her if she wanted to go to this place, she seemed excited.

Anpanman is a relatively unknown character series outside of Japan and South East Asia. In fact, we first heard of Anpanman, after coming to Japan. In Japan, Anpanman is a very popular character, especially among toddlers.

Anpanman, the“Red Bean paste filled Bread” man and his friends and enemies, which are also modeled after various kinds of bread were created by Japanese artist, “ Takashi Yanase” in a picture book series in the 1970’s. It was later converted into a TV series “Soreike ! Anpanman” and some 20 odd films. The series holds the Guiness World Record for the most number of characters in an animation series, 1768 characters as of June  2009 to be precise.

The multistoreyed museum has play areas and displays, which are popular among the kids.

A mall and restaurant area has various counters selling different kinds of franchise and food stuff.

Food stuff shaped like the various characters are available for sale.

Balloons of Anpanman characters for sale in the shopping area.

Children ( above 1 year) and Adult tickets are priced uniformly at 1000 yen per head. Children ticket comes with a free toy. 

Tickets: 1000 yen per head for Adults and children above age 1.  

Closing Days: New Year’s Holiday

Address: 4-3-1, Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama- 220-0012

Phone: 045-227-8855

Parking: Limited Parking available.

Website:  http://www.yokohama-anpanman.jp/main.html (Japanese only)

Anpanman Museums are also located in Nagoya city ( Aichi Prefecture) and Sendai ( Miyagi Prefecture). 

Revisiting Yokohama : Minato Mirai Area

On the last day of 2011, we visited Yokohama again. Actually it was a totally unplanned visit. Having spent 2 whole days sightseeing in Tokyo, we wanted to finish off the trip with something different. Since Yokohama was probably the closest from Tokyo, we decided to go there.

Yokohama has been one of my favourite cities in Japan.  The look of the city is much different from the other Japanese cities. Our earlier visit to Yokohama was to the Yamashita Park and China town area. This time we skipped these places and visited the Minato Mirai area.

Minato Mirai, or “Harbour of the future” as the name suggests, is a newly developed urban area which used to be a shipyard till the 1980’s. It’s seaside location makes it a perfect city centre complete with shopping malls, hotels, convention centre, amusement park, residential complexes and recreation areas.

Japan’s tallest building, the Landmark Tower, is the most easily recognizable skyscraper. The 69^th floor of the Landmark Tower is called Sky Garden and it has an observatory. You can ride on the world’s fastest elevator to reach the observatory.

Opening Hours: 10:00-21:00 hrs

Closing Days: Open all 365 days

Entrance fees: 1000 yen.

 Along the waterfront in front of the Landmark tower is situated the Cosmo World.

The Cosmo World houses the famous Ferris wheel with its time display. 

It used to be the biggest clock in the world at the time it was installed. Cosmo World has many other amusement rides, including a roller coaster ride and kids zone.

Opening Hours: 11:00-21:00

Closing days: Thursdays

Entrance fees: No entrance fees. Separate tickets for each ride, ranging between 300-700 yen.

 Anchored just across the road from the Landmark tower, is the retired sailing ship “Nippon Maru”. This ship was built in 1930 and sailed for over 50 years serving as a marine training vessel. It has travelled a distance of 1,830,000 kms and some 11500 people were trained aboard it. It also served as a vessel for repartriating some 25000 people from Japan’s overseas colonies after the end of WWII. It was retired from service in 1984 when it was permanently docked at its current location.  

 The Yokohama Maritime museum is located closeby. It showcases Yokohama’s role as the first major international port in Japan. Considering the fact, that Yokohama was the first place in Japan to open up to the outside world, the city’ development into a major international port was indeed a major step.

A combined ticket for 600 yen can be purchased for the Maritime museum and the Nippon maru. When either of the attraction is closed, the ticket for the operating attraction is priced at 400 yen. Nippon maru is occasionally closed additionally for maintenance.

We couldn’t enter both the museum and the Nippon maru as they were closed for the New Year holiday. But we did walk around and take some pictures.

Opening Hours: 10:00-17:00

Closed: Mondays  and New Year’s Holiday.

We drove from Minato Mirai area to the Aka Renga park. 

The red brick warehouses, known in Japanese as “Aka Renga Soko” were serving during the period when the area was a port.

Now these have been converted to serve as a shopping cum restaurant area. The area outside is the perfect place to spend some leisurely time.

Just outside the Aka renga park are the remnants of the foundation of the erstwhile centre office of the Customs House Annex constructed in 1914. 

It was destroyed by the Kanto Earthquake and lay buried till its discovery during the construction of the Aka-renga Park. 

The Japan Coast Guard Museum is a stone’s throw away. 

Try riding a “Velotaxi”, a cycle rickshaw of sorts, just outside the Aka-renga Park.

 The World Porters mall is a popular hangout in the area. Each floor has a different theme. The Broadway floor which has restaurants, movie theatres, shops and amusement area is particularly impressive.

Driving from the area towards Yamashita Park, we saw a couple of interesting buildings- prominent among them being the “ Tower of Queen”- which houses the office of Yokohama Customs ;

and the “Tower of Jack”, which is the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall.

Yokohama city Map :

http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/travel/media/pdf/En_map_A4.pdf