Started out the morning with a plan of going to the amazing Shosen Book Tower, only to discover it opens at 11am. Alas. Instead I wandered along the Kanda river until I got to a relatively famous (among train otaku anyway) viewpoint where you can see multiple train lines converge.
The view is from the Ochanomizu bridge, which literally translates to “water for tea”, apparently there was a particlarly good source of water for brewing tea here back in the Edo period.
Another thing I came across was Yushima Seido, a Confucian temple and an important center of learning during the Tokugawa Shogunate.
As I was wandering through the Kanda neighborhood there were signs of prep for the big Kanda Matsuri festival. Small portable shrines that will be paraded through town were being prepared, and lanterns had been hung in doorways.
Finally did get to the Shosen Book Tower. 9 floors, each with their own focus: novels, manga, hobbyist magazines and books, langauge learning, IT learning, and more, all sort of wrapped around a core of escalators. Its a fun place to browse.
Along the way we came across a donut shop, and had a “creme brulee” filled donut. Cream filling and a creme brulee crust on top. It did not disappoint.
Motobike Spotting
Out and About 