Stopping only to drop off our bags after travelling all day, we eagerly walked the short distance from our motel to the ancient Buddhist temple Sensō-ji. It is Tokyo’s oldest temple, founded in the year 682 dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. Before the entrance of the temple there is a long street of shops called Nakamise-dōri selling mostly souvenirs and touristy junk that is wall to wall people. Although I could have done without visiting Nakamise-dōri, the temple itself was incredible. There were several different pagodas with huge lanterns, ornate architecture, and opulent paintings and statues. Like many other temples, there is a place for you to wash your hands before entering the inner complex. There was also a large caldron with burning incense where visitors can douse themselves with the smoke. There was also a place where visitors can throw coins and pray to the bodhisattva Kannon. I don’t consider myself a particularly spiritual person but something about the temple, maybe simply feeling its immense historical importance or seeing all these different people, from all over the world, be united in its majesty, made me feel overly emotional. Whatever it was, it was a feeling that I’ll never forget.
After visiting the impressive Sensō-ji temple, we took the evening to get our cultural bearings and walk around the Asakusa area where we stayed. It’s a much older area, and as such, seemed much more peaceful and stoic. Many of the streets are pedestrian only so thousands of bicycles line up on every block. We did stumble upon one chaotic thing here however, Pachinko. It is a type of casino game kind of like pinball, where little metal balls drop down a vertical maze thing and if it goes into a particular hole, you win more metal balls. Although not the most exciting casino game, it is certainly the loudest. In Pachinko parlours with hundreds of machines, the sound of the metal balls is deafening and you can hear it from almost a block away.
Very hungry from a day on our feet, we went for an amazing dinner in a very small Japanese restaurant specializing in chicken. Situated down a dark alleyway, it was smaller than a city bus, and only had three staff members. We sat at the bar overlooking the kitchen so we could watch the two chefs prepare and cook every meal. Although they spoke little English and had no English menu, they were very gracious and gave us many samples of differently cooked chicken. We had yakitori, which is like a ball of ground chicken on a skewer, fried chicken skin, and seasoned chicken thigh cooked over an open flame. It was accompanied by rice, many different sauces, beer, and of course warm sake. I refrained from taking any photos, because well I thought it might be tacky, but considering it was one of the best meals in my life, I’ll never forget it anyway. After dinner we walked up to the Asahi brewery building, which very fittingly is shaped like a giant mug of beer, and back to our motel for an early night sleep.
To save a few extra dollars, we stayed in a capsule motel for the first two nights of our trip. Similar to a hostel in style, the capsule motel is a newer phenomenon in Japan, a place for tourists and people on business who are simply looking for a bed and nothing more. Basically the idea is that there is a large room that instead of bunk beds, it has ‘capsule’ like cocoons that are walled in with only an entrance at one end. Although I thought it might feel like sleeping in a coffin, it was actually quite spacious and comfortable. Considering that often when you are travelling, you hardly spend any time in your room anyway, the capsule motel is a practical option at a very affordable price.
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| Incense burning at the temple |
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| Nakamise-dōri shopping street |
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| Asahi Brewery building, |
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| Peaceful streets of Asakusa |
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