Tokyo (Japan) (day 2)

The second day of the trip and stay in Tokyo began with a visit to Asakusa. In the area is the most famous temple and shrine of Tokyo – the Sensoji temple and the Asakusa shrine, along with a few cute and touristy streets.

So we arrived at the station and it began raining so the first stop was the Nakamise dori which is a street with touristic stuff and it is covered so we could hide from the rain. Although, considering the forecast which was for rain, we decided to sacrifice and go into the rain. The gate which you cross (Hozomon gate) is quite impressive and from both sides of the gate you have weird colorful creatures. The Sensoju temple and the Asakusa shrine were overcrouded of course but the foreign tourists were not exactly a majority. They had a special sent burner where you go and expose yourself to the smoke which apparently protects you from illnesses. The cherry blossoms were nice addition to the view but the rain was sort of ruining it but you can’t have it all. The pagoda should not be missed and it is a vital element of the picture.

There was one funny moment – while in the temple, in front of the place where people throw money, a German family was having a talk and the daughter (my age) gave her father a coin and told him to throw it to the special place. The man looked at the coin and said: “whole Euro?” It was such sincere reaction that we all laughed.

Once the area was explore, we went to the “kitchen street” where are a lot of kitchenware shops and restaurants. As it was lunch time, we picked up a place and had great food – unbelievably, they had some information written in English in addition to the plastic meals samples. Here is probably the time when I have to explain the plastic meals samples. So, in the front of most restaurants, you have a window with plastic representations of meals so you know how the food looks like and how much it costs. In certain cases, you have even the meals name in English. If no English /roman explanation is present, you simply point to the waiter what you want and look forward the surprise. In this particular case, the food was delicious!

Fed, we headed to the Ueno park and the National Museum. The Park is one of the most famous places to observe cherry blossoms – the path is like in a tunnel with cherry blossom. The weather was not good but still it is amazing. Somewhat the branches covered with blossoms looked like covered with snow. It is not necessary to mention that it was over crowded I guess and mainly with Japanese and they were taking pictures just like us, like they don’t enjoy it year after year.

If you have heard that Japanese love to go out and have a bite or dinner/ picnics outside under the cherry blossoms, you may be naïve as me and think that it is like the picnic in the western world. But nooo.. They cover the pavement with blue plastics and sit on them and eat, drink and talk. It is soo weird. If you think that a picnic under the cherry blossoms in Tokyo could be romantic, what I saw was not – it was Japanese understanding of enjoying the view and the period.

The walk in the park led us to the National museum which we visited focusing on the Japanese art and history. Even though Japan is not a new country and has a lot of history and art behind, after you exit the museum you do not feel intimidated and full with information, art, and culture, expositions – at least the way you usually feel after visiting a big European or North American museum.

Then it was around 5 and the Kabuki Theater was waiting. There is one theater in Tokyo, which is presenting kabuki. Each play is 3 hours or longer, but you can go in and attend only 1 act (which is 1 hour). When we arrived the line for tickets was winding nicely and it looked like the tickets are only standing and no seating but you always sacrifice for art. The waiting time was more than 30 mins . Then standing at the end of the balcony for 1 hour.

The Kabuki performance is special. In fact the actors (males only playing the roles of both males and females) stand/sit on their knees, there is no action monotonous tones, the music was another charming point – a typical instrument and singing which in combination are Japanese music. The performance demonstrates you even more how different the Japanese are. Plus, at certain moments people from the public were saying something and all this 60 mins which can feel like eternity. My feet were on fire at one point and when it was done it was a relief. The tone and musicality of the actors’ voices and music transports you in another dimension which is not my cup of tea. I guess that if/when you study and learn about the culture and the story behind the theater and all you can appreciate it better. There are no regrets seeing it though. The Japanese were watching the whole performance as you may imagine.

The girl (a nurse) who guided us from the subway station to the theater told us that the building will be reconstructed and that we are happy to see it as it is.

So at 7.30pm or so we decided to follow Frommer’s advise for a restaurant in Ginza which was categorized as a Find. It took us at least half an hour to walk and search, ask and point at the map and all that fun but we gave up at the end and picked up a restaurant ourselves. We ordered some set menus and the food began coming and coming, the waiters were correcting the way we eat/act in some cases (this could never happen in the Western World I thing).

And this was all for day 2 – long and interesting and we were ready for the next day and the trip to Nikko.