Begin the day with a trip to Kanda Myojin. This is the head shrine for a bunch of shrines jn the area, and dates back to ~700 AD, though not in this exact location. There is a matsuri (festival) that’s held every other year, involving a large parade and portable shrines, which is happening this Saturday, so we got a look at the portable shrines.
Then we headed over to Asakusa and Senso-ji temple. Both names use the same kanji, one being the Japanese reading, and the other being the Chinese reading. Etymology is not super clear but prevailing opinion is that it means “poor grass”.
Regardless, Sensoji is a large temple complex and big tourist attraction. While we were there, what I can only describe as “temple summer camp” was going on, as preschool children were being organized (as well as can be done) into a festival procession, complete with matching costumes and scaled-down portable shrines (or temples? Senso-ji is Buddhist…)
Nearby is the Asakusa Kagetudo bakery, famous for its melon pan, really just a bread with a sweet cookie-like top crust. Fresh, hot, soft, and tasty.
Lunch was just combini onigiri on the top floor of a train station department store that has been around in some form since before the war.
Then we we put the past in the past and got on a boat that looked like a spaceship for a trip down the Sumida river into Tokyo Bay, toward a building that looked like a spaceport.
Naturally at that point we headed toward the giant robot, before returning over the Rainbow Bridge.
Anyway… needed a beer and some food after all that. Found a place called Andy’s Shin Hinomoto, under the train tracks near Yurakacho station. Got there before the kitchen opened but they kindly set us up with beer and edamame until then. Sushi, tempura scallops, grilled prawn, and swordfish in a tasty soy-garlic sauce. Where are the photos? Well… we were hungry.
Out and About 