So Tokyo isn’t all neon lights, smiley faces and cartoons. East Tokyo is the older part of town, which had its hay day before WW2. Asakusa at its prime (3-4 centuries ago) was the place to be, where you could find anything from kabuki, a popular Japanese theatre style, to brothels, a popular…well, that’s pretty international. Asakusa was the first place in Japan to have cinemas, music halls and western opera (your welcome Japan). It was also the first place to import another very important western product: striptease (seriously, your welcome). Unfortunately all this glitz and glam (and filth) has now moved to the Shinjuku and Shibuja district, as pretty much everything was destroyed in WW2. However it’s still a beautiful place to see- especially the area around the Sensō-Ji temple.
The Sensō-Ji temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo and is dedicated to the Buddhist goddess of mercy, Kannon. Legend has it that two fishermen brothers in 628AD went fishing in nearby Sumida river and instead of finding that afternoon’s sushi platter came across a statue of the goddess. They were so chuffed with their findings that they built a temple for her and dedicated their lives to worshipping her.
And many people continue to worship there today, including lots of beautiful girls in kimonos. The Japanese wear kimonos for special occasions, and this can include anything from saying a prayer to the gods to pass your next exams, to getting ready for cherry blossom selfie season. Luckily for me, the trigger happy blogger, they were everywhere, just casually walking around town as if they had just gone thrown on a pair of sweats and a hoodie. I couldn’t get enough. Their kimonos come in so many colours and designs and they are so incredibly beautiful and elegant, you can’t take your eyes off them. And as everyone who knows me will know, I’m a sucker for national costumes- I just wish ours were as pretty!
And to end the old Tokyo experience, what better than to have our first ramen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this, ramen is an amazing traditional food consisting of a big bowl of noodles in a meat broth, with different toppings then applied. It’s the kind of fast/convenient food of Japan. They don’t really have so much street food per-se because they are too clean to eat on the street but ramen is the nearest thing. It was actually imported from China, along with gyoza (dumplings), but both have been japanofied (or made even better). Don’t forget to slurp your noodles- it makes them taste even better. It’s weird at first seeing everybody, especially when you see a super smart granded, wearing a suit and tie, slurping away with his head in his bowl, not coming up for air until finished. But it’s considered polite here and everybody does it, so if you can’t beat ’em…
