This is the area where you can visit the most touristy temple, do some Japanese culture activities (if you're not visiting Kyoto), hunt for local made kitchenware + knives, visit the neo-classic street filled with interesting grocers + restaurants/cafe.
It took us 1.5 days to cover the above.
We were out for weekend farmer's market before arriving
Asakusa on Day 1. It was already late afternoon when we arrived
(￣～￣;)!!
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| Asakusa Station |
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| You know you've arrived at the most touristy temple when you see this at the train station! |
Despite being this
late, there is still quite a bit of crowd at the temple's entrance!
＼(º □ º l|l)/
Decided to take a walk
C= C= C= C= C=┌(;・ω・)┘ at the alley shops before heading over to the temple shopping street [
Nakamise]
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| Jidaiya, this is the company with a group of macho+sexy male rickshaw pullers |
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| GPS: 35.71, 139.797 |
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| 浅草念珠堂 |
浅草念珠堂 - [
LINK] Bought a cute porcelain neko incense burner here! There's also a few café along this row of shops. There's a shop to rent traditional Japanese summer attires (male/female). They will dress and doll you up for a fee. It's slightly cheaper here than those nearer to the temple.
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| GPS: 35.71, 139.797 |
Now for the main
attraction of this area -
Asakusa Kaminarimon. Took some photos at the entrance before the shopping street. I was photobombed by an uncle
(｡╯3╰｡) See if you can spot him below;
Uncle Photobomb is busy executing his pranks, walking back and forth where many WILL take photos here.
Now, at the other side of the gate, right before we enter the
☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ shopping street.
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| The back of the entrance gate. Facing the shopping street. |
There's less people here for your photo-taking session
φ(︶▽︶)φ ... whilst the
Uncle Photobomb is still busy with his rounds at the
(o¬‿¬o ) other side.
Time to brave the street! Try not to get any souvenir here. You should get it from shops found along the nearby streets like the one I've been before coming here. Or at the streets near where I'll be checking out the organic local producers soon. The prices here are a little high, packed with tourists and the vendors can be quite unfriendly.
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| Gate entrance to the temple from shopping street |
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| Hey, it's surprisingly NOT crowded! |
I've spoken too soon about it not being that crowded. The area between the entrance gate and the temple itself is pretty crowded. I know, I know, it wasn't as crowded as I've expected. After all, we still have an hour before the temple closes for the day
ヽ(>_<ヽ) ―rushing
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| Purify yourself before entering (the temple) |
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| Main (temple) hall |
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| Ceiling Art |
After we're done at the main (temple) hall, we proceed to our left (facing the main hall's deities), walking through a few smaller shrines, zen garden, etc and out from the shrine compound.
Famished now. We found a sheltered shop arcade which housed a few small eateries, a game shop, souvenir shop and costume renting outlet [
LINK]. We've decided to have tempura accompanying our cold soba noodle. A quick one before we head towards the area where a
Donki is nearby.
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| The sweet grandma from the soba shop insisted to take a photo for us here! |
The walks toward
Donki is lined with many, many more interesting shops and eateries. We finally spent some time at
Marugoto Nippon for some AC. Bought a few local artisan farmers' produces & snacks. Even made a friend here
＼(＾∀＾)メ(＾∀＾)ノ Food-related chat and contacts exchanged
٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
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| Like-minded friendship is made! |
A few steps away is
Donki. Time to search for things in my shopping list
(〜￣▽￣)〜 woot!
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| I'm here FIRST! |
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| Wait up! |
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| K: Can we have a quick fika, here? |
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| Asakusa Engei Hall |
We paused for a while, right outside
Donki, facing the engei hall for a quick coffee. Check out the massive queue for tonight's session!
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| 浅草ＲＯＸまつり湯 GPS: 35.713, 139.794 |
Couldn't find what I was searching for at
Donki. Heading to nearby
Daiso. There are more shops and eateries here. Which opens till a tad later.
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| 鳥のいるカフェ 浅草店 |
There's even an Owl & Parrot café in this area.
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| GPS: 35.712, 139.793 |
I didn't drop by as we will be heading
ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣▽￣)┘ to
Chiyoda-ku's
Tokyu Hands for a quick price/stock check.
