{"id":1337,"date":"2023-10-10T05:03:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T10:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2024-03-31T07:53:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T12:53:22","slug":"japan-day-9-traveling-to-tokyo-and-asakusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/10\/japan-day-9-traveling-to-tokyo-and-asakusa\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Day 9: Traveling to Tokyo and Asakusa"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had a bit of a lazy morning. I had breakfast while talking to the owner of the hotel (he\u2019s a native English speaker who just happened to have been born and raised in Japan). <\/p>\n

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My view during breakfast, prepared by the owner of the hotel. I ate apples, eggs, lettuce, and a bit of sausage, while we talked about living in Japan, the US, and Europe, and the medical systems in each.<\/p><\/div>

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This is a way of launching and docking a boat I\u2019ve not seen before.<\/p><\/div>

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I watched boats and birds this morning.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The hotel owner gave me a ride to the train station, and I then headed towards Tokyo.<\/p>\n

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On my way from Kurohime to Nagano City.<\/p><\/div>

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I had the equivalent of a train layover in Nagano.<\/p><\/div>

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This is the view from the fourth floor of the Nagano train station.<\/p><\/div>

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The Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo spent a lot of time in tunnels; this blue sky was blinding every time we emerged. The group of poles and netting on the right is either a driving range (like Top Golf in the US) or a baseball field. I saw plenty of both.<\/p><\/div>

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Why couldn\u2019t I have had skies like this yesterday?<\/p><\/div>

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Passing through Saitama, much ridiculed by Tokyo but also home to Crayon Shin-chan.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

I got off at Ueno Station, since that was the closest spot to my hotel for the remainder of my stay. I had a little time to kill before I could check in, so I visited the Asakusa neighborhood on my way to the hotel.<\/p>\n

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The building on the right is Ueno Station.<\/p><\/div>

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The tall tower there is Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest freestanding broadcast tower (and the third tallest structure) in the world at 2080 feet tall.<\/p><\/div>

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I thought the dinosaur was cute.<\/p><\/div>

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Entering the area in Asakusa around the extremely famous Sens\u014d-ji Buddhist temple.<\/p><\/div>

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The market street leading up to the temple is packed with people.<\/p><\/div>

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This is the H\u014dz\u014dmon, or Treasure-House Gate, which is the inner gate (if I had braved the throng of people down the market street, I would have seen the outer gate).<\/p><\/div>

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A five-story pagoda.<\/p><\/div>

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The big red lantern weighs approximately 880 lbs.<\/p><\/div>

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The main hall. This temple is dedicated to Kannon, she who represents mercy and compassion. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo.<\/p><\/div>

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The giant red lantern of the main hall.<\/p><\/div>

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According to my map, this is the \u201cMonument of Hato-poppo Lyrics.\u201d This is a nursery song about feeding pigeons, which is kind of funny because the temple absolutely does not want you feeding pigeons. Because poop.<\/p><\/div>

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The main hall, with a pigeon trying to sneak by in the shadows.<\/p><\/div>

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Looking back towards the gate. Lots of shops in this neighborhood offer kimono rental services for men and women, as well as hair decoration.<\/p><\/div>

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The buildings on either side of the gate sold amulets and charms.<\/p><\/div>

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The backside of the giant lantern in the H\u014dz\u014dmon Gate.<\/p><\/div>

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On either side of the lanterns is a Ni\u014d, or guardian of the Buddha.<\/p><\/div>

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Please help stop the feces problem.<\/p><\/div>

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Statues of Buddha.<\/p><\/div>

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Looking down (but not going down) the market street.<\/p><\/div>

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Another view of the market street.<\/p><\/div>

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The street parallel was a lot less crowded. \u201cIt has been said since ancient times that dragon drool brings good luck.\u201d I don\u2019t really want a dragon slobbering in my noodles.<\/p><\/div>

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Some more shopping areas in Asakusa.<\/p><\/div>

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This guy is smart, having his umbrella ready. The blue skies were replaced by a thunderstorm about two hours after this.<\/p><\/div>

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Heading towards the Skytree, since my hotel is in that direction.<\/p><\/div>

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The golden building (supposed to be beer with white head of foam on top) and the golden flame are the Asahi Brewing company offices, restaurant, and craft beer tasting rooms.<\/p><\/div>

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The Sumida River.<\/p><\/div>

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Another view of Asahi, but now with Pikachu vending machines!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

I was so happy to get to the hotel and put my heavy backpack down. I let my phone charge a bit, and then headed back towards Asakusa, passing lots of places I wish I could eat (Turkish D\u00f6ner Kebab! Burger King! KFC!), so I could go to the tourist center and get my discounted Subway card for the next three days. I then grabbed my dinner from 7-Eleven (Oyakodon tonight) and got back to the hotel before then rain really started coming down.<\/p>\n

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Randy is a talking, rapping backpack encouraging elementary school children to introduce themselves in English.<\/p><\/div>

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I finally found some Budweiser! \u00a5231, or $1.55, for 330 mL.<\/p><\/div>

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I\u2019ll have these over the next couple of days. I really like Japanese grape Fanta; have not tried Japanese Dr. Pepper yet. It has \u201cover 20 fruit flavors.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Tomorrow I shall really start my Tokyo sightseeing, starting with a tour of the Toshio Kashio Memorial Museum of Invention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a bit of a lazy morning. I had breakfast while talking to the owner of the hotel (he\u2019s a native English speaker who just happened to have been born and raised in Japan). The hotel owner gave me a ride to the train station, and I then headed towards Tokyo. I got off … Continue reading Japan Day 9: Traveling to Tokyo and Asakusa<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1381,"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/1381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}