Sensoji Temple (Asakusa Kannon) Taito

As starts many of my international vacations, I begin with an unexpected illness. Paul and I arrived at our hotel in Tokyo on Thursday night, in a cute, central neighborhood of Akasaka, filled with dozens of restaurants, bars, and snack shops. I was pleasantly suprised with my value hotel due to it having a king size bed, which is rare in …

After a quick breakfast at our nemesis Shinjuku station (where, yes, we got lost again) we hopped the subway to the Asakusa neighborhood. Asakusa is basically the historic district -it's home to the most famous Buddhist temple in Tokyo -the Sensoji Temple. The entrance to Sensoji was pretty dramatic. It's flanked by 2 massive entrance gates. We …

Breakfast debacle:


First we couldn't work out which of the hotel's restaurants served normal non-extravagant western breakfast. Calling reception didn't enhance our understanding either. The buffet across the road in the hotel's annexe was closing when we walked in.


Wandering towards the Ginza along the train lines …

築地 銀座 淺草 台場

Woke up early for the seafood market.

Ate lots of fresh sashimi before hiding in the department store to warm ourselves and shop.

In the afternoon we headed to the temple and had pufferfish dinner nearby.

It was expensive but worth to (risk my …

On Wednesday we took the train to Asakusa. It was an unnaturally hot day - about 35 degrees and 90% humidity or something and somehow sunny.

We looked through the markets along Nakamise Shopping Street, where I bought a fan (which became practical).

The Sensoji Temple and Asakusajinja Shrine were both grand and beautiful. The …

Japan is my favorite country in the world, so far. The people, the food, the mixture of tradition and innovation, the mentality. I love almost everything about this country.
So far I've been there four times, but Tokyo has definitely not seen the last of me yet.

Well, Tokyo is great, as far as big ass metropolitan cities can get, that …

It's early August and we’re crossing the Asian continent from one giant city to another: Our flight from Beijing, China to Tokyo, Japan lasts just under four hours and is uneventful. Japan is the last country on our around-the-world trip itinerary.

From the airport, we find an ATM, grab a snack and then head down into the subway, …

I stayed in Tokyo for around a week, but only actually spent a few days in the city itself....instead opting to go on day trips for the other days.

On first arriving in the place, I loved it. Everyone seemed incredibly friendly and polite, and I was impressed by the way things just seemed to work: everything from the modern trains to the …

A more cultural day in Tokyo started with a trip down Nakamise-Dori and to Sensoji Temple. Having bustled our way through the busy subways in Tokyo we arrived at the even busier traditional shopping area of Asakusa, and more specifically Nakamise Dori. This is one of the oldest shopping areas of Japan and is a warren of small alleys and streets …

... river so we caught a boat down and had a look at Tokyo from the river. Asakusa is crowded, everyone comes to see Sensoji temple. We walked down through some markets, which have big signs warning you of pickpockets. The markets lead to the temple, ...

Luckily today the Kinryu-no-mai or Golden Dragon Dance festival was happening at the Sensoji Temple, not that I had planned my timing or anything, come on I ain't that organized. I'd already seen the temple but didn't mind another visit in order to see ...

... be good enough so I headed out.  Since I came out of the subway station near a very large entrance to the Sensoji Temple & Asakusa Shrine, I got a little cocky. I walked down a cool street market that was just closing up, which ...

... of the first few days travel in the faraway land of the Rising Sun... By the time we reached our first destination in Japan - Tokyo - we were knackered. We had undertaken an epic overnight journey from Hong Kong, notable (if that's the right word) for ...

... somehow sunny. We looked through the markets along Nakamise Shopping Street, where I bought a fan (which became practical). The Sensoji Temple and Asakusajinja Shrine were both grand and beautiful. The temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo, built about ...

... in the Second World War and rebuilt in 1958. It's a reasonably peaceful place with few tourists around - in contrast to the Sensoji Temple, which we went to yesterday. It's got an Imperial Garden and a shady ice cream parlour - all well away from the ...

... bar we'd gotten a handout for. Unfortunately, we were all pretty tired and lame, so we ended up deciding to hit the nearby Sensoji Temple, go for dinner, then call it a night and be forever shamed by our failure to be the least bit adventurous or ...

... before wandering up the road to Asakusa, Tokyo's more traditional neighbourhood and craft centre. We made our way up to Sensoji temple, coughing on the incense and inspecting the numerous souvenir shops and stalls in the area. We purchased a few gifts ...

... samples toys. We continued onward through the Asakusa neighborhood towards the Thunder Gate, or "kaminar-mon", at the Sensoji Temple.  This temple is also known as the Asakusa Kannon Temple in honor of Kannon the Goddess of Mercy.  This ...

... of Long Valley from a couple of years ago but so far I have uploaded two new albums from Tokyo and will upload a third sometime soon.) The Sensoji Temple (and surrounding gates) are truly an incredible symbol of the history of Asakusa and Tokyo, on the ...