Japan Day 11: Asakusa

Yo getting her lunch tickets.

Got up and got everything packed and ready to leave. It was a little sad leaving Greg, Hisayo and family. Took a while to get to the airport, as we got on the wrong train once. That's where I pulled my back out pretty badly! Horrible way to start the last day in Japan! After getting to the hotel and medicating I was ready to sight see and refused to miss out on my last day! Went to a restaurant on our way to our first stop and had some trouble figuring it out. You had to buy your food tickets from a vending machine and then give it to the waitress. My rice came with an egg. Uncooked. I did not eat it. The rice was good though. :)













1. Tokyo River Cruise
Went to Hinode pier to take the water bus up to Asakusa. We didn't have a lot planned for the day and the river boat ended up being calm and relaxing and a great way to see some of Tokyo.

The different boats you can take.

Ticket from Asakusa to Hinode pier.

The sights you see.

Mickey and Minnie were very popular.

Not sure what this was. Reminds me of a golden turd.

2. Senso-ji Temple Area
This area was where most of the sights on our list were. It was in a very small area of town, as well as, a very popular area. It was packed with tourists! There were probably more tourists in this one small area than in the whole of what we'd seen throughout Japan. The roads were lined with stores. I finally got my soft serve green tea ice cream.
Yummy!

Senso-ji Pagoda

Tons of people in the streets.

Large lantern.

Bottom of large lantern. Everybody wanted to touch it.

Biggest sandal ever.

My boy Jang Keun Suk. :)

Saibutsu Itabi (1924)
Itabi is a type of stupa made of a rectangular
stone plate. The top part is shaped in a triangle
and an image of Buddha or a syllable that symbolizes
 Syaka is inscribed.

Monument in Memory of Sansho
(three haiku master poets)

Bronze statue of Uryu Iwako
Made major efforts for the education of young
girls in the Aizu clan and also established the
Fukushima Relief Facility for the assistance to the
poor and orphans. She also founded a midwifery
research institute and the Saisei Hospital in Kitakata.

Monchichi everywhere.

Had to get one for Charles.

Took the river cruise back to the hotel and got some beer and snacks for the trip. We decided to stay around the hotel for the night because we didn't want to have to deal with trains late at night, especially when we had to get up by 3:30a to get to the airport. After walking around for a while, we ended up in a sake bar where we partied with some locals until after 2:00a. We had so much fun and ended up giving them all nicknames: RedRum, No Name No Money, and Butterflies. Butterflies (or Mao) gave me a baseball card and I got a lighter from RedRum. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the locals and trying to get past the language barrier. Got about an hour of sleep and then it was to the airport.

 

Baseball card from Mao (below).

Me and Yo in our nightgowns provided by the hotel.