Asakusa

On Saturday I visited the Asakusa area of Tokyo. Most of Asakusa is based around the Sensoji Temple. The first thing I saw when I left the subway station was the first gate to the temple, Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate). From the crowds I guessed that perhaps a Saturday was not the best day to visit the area.





After walking past Kaminarimon, I was on the Nakamise shopping street. Both sides of the street were lined with many small stores and booths selling every kind of Japanese-y, tourist store, made in China trinket you could think of. I was surprised with the type of junk being sold that most people walking Nakamise were Japanese and not tourists.








At the end of Nakamise shopping street is the second gate to the Sensoji Temple, the Hozo Gate.





Sensoji Temple




I headed back to the subway and went over to the Ginza area. There is a lot of money in Ginza, both in the businesses there and in the wallets and purses of the people on the streets. I had been there on Friday when it was raining and felt very much out of place with everyone walking around in designer business wear...Saturday was no exception. Some streets in Ginza are closed to vehicles and the streets are packed with people out shopping in their designer casual wear. I wandered around for a bit but became quite self-conscious and feeling out of place so I high-tailed it back to the subway.


On Sunday my friend from Arizona arrived so the day was basically spent getting out to Narita Airport to meet him when, show him how to get back to the apartment on the various trains, and then we headed out to wander around Shinjuku at night. I think everyone's first exposure to Tokyo should be Shinjuku at night!

Updates

Heading off to Kyoto today for two days. My friend from Arizona arrived in Tokyo yesterday (Sunday).

On Friday it was raining here in Tokyo so I didn't do too much. On Saturday I wandered around around Asakusa and Ginza. I have a few pictures from each area that I will post when I get back from Kyoto sometime on Wednesday.

Yokohama

Today I went to Yokohama, about 30 minutes outside of Tokyo. I decided to travel light today and only took my little "point and shoot" camera with me. Unfortunately I only managed to get a few pictures before the battery died. The battery indicator quickly went from fully charged to completely dead. I will have to watch this in the future to see if maybe there is something wrong with the battery.

Anyways, technical problems aside, I decided to visit Yokohama's Chinatown which is supposedly Japan's largest. It was amusing to go from hearing Japanese almost exclusively to hearing Mandarin and Cantonese being spoken. There were plenty of shops and restaurants and quite a few people out shopping on a warm and sunny day.





They must sell some good steamed dumplings.






Temple dedicated to the Chinese god of prosperity.




After walking through Chinatown I headed to the Yokohama harbour and managed to coax 2 more pictures out of my dying battery of Minato Mirai, Yokohama's "futuristic" city area. I headed over only to find that if Minato Mirai is any indication of the future, most things will be closed.










I did however manage to get one last picture of something I have noticed in practically every city I have visited or passed through....a ferris wheel. I'm not joking, I have seen one (of fairly large size too) in almost every city I have been in so far. I guess the Japanese love their ferris wheels.

Himeji

On Tuesday I went to the city of Himeji to visit Himeji Castle. Originally established as a fort in 1333, the Himeji castle complex was completed in 1609. As soon as you arrive by train your attention is immediately drawn to the castle sitting on top of a small hill overlooking the city. It is a short walk from the train station up a major street to Himeji-jo. Much of the vegetation was still brown from winter. I would love to be able to visit again later in spring, especially when all the cherry-blossoms (sakura) are out.














"Murder holes" for shooting arrows or muskets or dropping stones on enemies attacking the castle. These are all throughout the castle and its buildings.







There were displays of armour and weapons.







Looking down from the top of the castle tower.











This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Everything else is just icing on the cake!

Odaiba -- Now with pictures.

*Flickr seems to be working again properly so I have uploaded my pictures from Monday. *


Today I went to the area known as Odaiba which is composed of islands in Tokyo bay. It is a shopping and entertainment district with plenty to see and do. I went in the early afternoon so by the time evening came I still hadn't even seen half of what there is in Odaiba.






Uh oh. I think I'm in New York.








I was in a few shopping centres that were very similar to those back home. But then I walked into VenusFort. Quite different altogether. It was made to look like an Italian city streetscape. I have seen pictures of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas and it reminded me a lot of that.










After wandering Odaiba, I headed over to Roppongi Hills to go to the Tokyo City View observation deck at the top of the Mori Tower building. The windows were large and provided some great views of Tokyo lit up at night. The only thing I didn't like was the lighting in the area caused some reflection in the pictures.



















Most restaurants in Tokyo (and other parts of Japan) have window displays showing what meals are available. It is all plastic but some of it looks very edible. It is also a convenient way to order your food if you cannot read the menu and speak very little Japanese. Just lead the waitress outside and point at what you would like to order.

Osafune

Today I travelled about 4 hours to the small town of Osafune, just outside of Okayama. I wanted to visit the Japanese sword museum there because on the second Sunday of each month they hold demonstrations of traditional sword crafting techniques.

The strength of the Japanese sword comes from continually folding the steel over and over again by heating it in a furnace and hammering it. The demonstration was of this particular technique and did not show the creation of the sword itself. There were other areas of the museum where there were demonstrations of polishing a finished sword, engraving a sword, and creating the sword hilt.

Heating up the steel.




Glowing hot steel.




Hammering it flat.



Here's a short video showing the technique of hammering the steel.




After the steel has been hammered and re-heated it is then folded.




They ended the demonstration after hammering and folding the steel a few times.


One of the other demonstrations was a professional sword polisher polishing a finished sword.









Some swords on display.











This one was for sale.



The price tag. That's about $12,000.

Lazy Day

Nothing much today. I just wandered through the department stores in the Shinjuku area. I wanted to go get some night shots of Tokyo but I realized too late what time it was and that the observation deck I wanted to visit in Roppongi Hills would be closed by the time I got there.

Tomorrow I will be heading to a town near Okayama, about 4 hours away by shinkansen, to visit the Bizen Osafune sword museum. They will be holding a demonstration of traditional sword crafting techniques and this is something I really want to see.