Asakusa, one of the traditional areas left in Tokyo, used to be the site of kabuki theaters and a large red light district during the Edo Period. The good-old-town has so many places to see such as Sensoji Temple 's Kaminarimon Gate and the Nakamise-dori (shopping street), as well as the 5-story pagoda nearby and Asakusa Hanayashiki. Since Asakusa can be easily explored on foot, you are not going to miss any of such attractions.Yet this time, we could find some hidden spots, great restaurants, and entertaining places besides the traditional temples and souvenir shops!
0:00 P.M.Our last exploration in 2008 begun at Asakusa station. As soon as we arrived there, we started to wonder around to find a Monjayaki restaurant because we were starving...
0:30 P.M.
We finally found queues of people formed in front of a two-story restaurant called EDO MONJA HYOUTAN located near the Nakamise-dori. Just as any other Monjayaki restaurants, you can make Monjayaki and Okonomiyaki on your own at EDO MONJA HYOUTAN,too. There are guided menus, so you won't have any hassle to make them even it is yor first time. One of the Monjayaki menus here was introduced on TV for its tastiness!
1:30 P.M.
After satisfied with very tasty foods, we decided to walk around Nakamise-dori and head to Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple. There were so many souvenir shops along the street and some traditional Japanese sweets reminded us of our childhood.
2:00 P.M.
When we reached near the temple, we remembered that Hagoita-ichi (a battledore festival) was being held on that day. At the festival, so many elder people and foreign tourists were buying Hagoita for New Year's decorations or a souvenir to take back home. Some of them were really pricy, so unfortunately we couldn't afford it...
2:30 P.M.
Walking pass Sensoji, we arrived at Asakusa Hanayashiki, Japan 's oldest amusement park. In the neiborhood, there is Asakusa view hotel and a very famous Italian restaurant called TRATTORIA FUKUHIRO,a homey trattoria. And down the road, there is Sakura Hostel Asakusa, the largest hostel in Tokyo .
3:00 P.M.
Randomly walking, we found Asakusa Ball, where you can enjoy bowling,pool,and ping-pong. The amusument place is open until late so it would be nice to visit after you enjoyed shopping or dinner in Asakusa.There is also a batteing center called Rox Dome Batting Stadium in the neighborhood.
3:30 P.M.
Walking on Shin-nakamise-dori, we happened to find a shoes store called UNIVERS where they sell nice shoes at very reasonable prices. Once you get in the store, you will get in trouble decideing which one to buy and may end up buying a lot of them.
4:00 P.M.
Later on, we entered in Rokku-dori, and a shop called Wafuan caught our eyes with its sign saying 10yen Manju ( Japanese sweets)!Because it's so cheap and very delicious, we ate 10 of them although we were still quite full from lunch.
4:30 P.M.
As Sumida River lies very close to the town, we decided to take a walk along the river. For its quiet and peaceful atmosphere, it would be really nice to walk there when we have something to think about or when we just want to relax.
5:00 P.M.
We then decided to cross the Sumida River to see Asahi building,a unique construction designed by very well-known architects Philip Starck and Makoto Nozawa. While we were looking at the building, we found a café called 23 BANCHI Cafe. They have some nice outside-seats and also a bar. At the cafe, very friendly waiters and waitresses serve you fresh Asahi beer at a reasonable price.
5:30 P.M.
After fter the long walk, we headed back to Asakusa station. On the way back, we saw a beautiful sunset view from Azuma-bashi (bridge). Perfect for our last exploration in 2008!!
