Wednesday, July 7, 2010

First Day in Tokyo


We made it to Tokyo! And more importantly we managed to make it to our hotel. We read two guidebooks and countless websites and could still not figure out how to get to the hotel from the airport. We wanted to use the public transportation because it costs about $300 to take a taxi from the airport. Between trains, subways, monorails and buses, it got a little confusing. We decided that we would just wait until we got and see what happened, knowing that Japan is very well-organized and that we were probably just missing something. As we expected, once we got directions from the information desk, it mostly made sense. After changing trains once and walking through a maze of underground tunnels, found our hotel.


We have a great view of the Sumida river from our hotel room. The room is nice, but pretty small for 4 huge Americans! From the 32nd floor of our modern, high-rise hotel, we look out over a garden that was used by the shoguns. Right away we were struck by the contrast between old and new side-by-side.


One of the good things about the hotel is that it is right near the Tsujiki fish market - one of the biggest fish markets in the world. It is famous for the tuna auctions that takes place at 5:30am. As we had jet lag, we figured we should go this morning as we’d be up anyway. However, since we had jet lag, we also failed to read the information in the lobby that it would be closed today for a holiday!


Since we were up and had nothing else to do at 5am, we walked over to the area where the market is and grabbed a quick Japanese breakfast - an assortment of raw fish on a bowl of rice. It was delicious and as we sat at the counter of the outside (covered) food stall, a huge rain storm poured down. The kids liked it but David was hungry again a half-hour!


After breakfast, we decided to brave the metro on our own and hopped on the metro to Asakusa - an older, more traditional part of Tokyo. During WWII, much of Tokyo was bombed and so not many older parts still exist. Asakusa still has many of the older wood buildings and narrow winding streets. It also has the Senso-ji temple, one of the most famous temples in Tokyo.

Painted storefront doors in Asasuka...before the tourists arrive

We visited the Senso-ji temple early, before the crowds arrived. It wasn't just tourists - business men, housewives and even the construction guys working on the restoration of the temple came in to make their offerings. David especially liked the protective deities guarding the temple - they looked like some sort of demons but are scary to keep the bad spirits away. The temple was constructed to house a gold statue that was found in the river nearby hundreds of years ago. The statue is kept in a special box and the box in on display at the temple. The temple itself was built in the 1800s but was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in the 1950s. The exterior was being restored when we were there, so we didn't take any pictures.


Emma and David on the way to the Senso-ji Temple


Watching the carp from the bridge near the temple

We went into one smaller temple (built to honor the fisherman who found the gold statue in the Senso-ji temple) and were taken under the wing of this older Japanese woman. She talked a lot (in Japanese) and we did a lot of nodding. She took us back over the Senso-ji temple and showed us how to wash ourselves in the fountain before entering the temple (use the ladle to pour water on left hand, then right hand, then pour some into your left hand again and drink a little and then spit it out). They have fortunes at the temple. You put 100 yen into a box and then pick up a cylinder with a little hole on top and filled with what look like chopsticks with numbers (in Japanese) on them. You shake the cylinder until one comes out and then go over to a wall of drawers and find the one with the number that corresponds with your chopstick. Your fortune is in there. If it is good, you keep it. If it is bad you can tie it onto a wire next to the drawers and it is undone. Ours warned against trying to avoid danger (not good) so the little lady showed me how to tie it to the wire. She also showed the kids how to rub the smoke from the incense on themselves for good fortune - they loved it.


While we were wandering around we were approached by a Japanese camera crew asking if we would answer some questions about being tourists in Japan. David did most of the talking! I think they liked that he answered "slurping noodles" was one of the things he was looking forward to doing in Japan. If they choose to use it, it will probably air tomorrow night on channel 12!


We ended our outing with a boat trip from Asakusa back to our neighborhood, Shiodome, along the Sumida river. Not the most picturesque but they did have their own special beer on the boat.

We are planning on making it to the fish market tomorrow!!


Waiting for our riverboat with the Asahi beer tower in the background.
It looks like a glass of beer!

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