This morning, we wanted to get familiar to using the subway system in preparation for tomorrow's trip to Tsukiji in the morning wee hour, so we decided to visit Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, which was far from any JR station and was more conveniently reached by subway.
Thus we headed out to Shinjuku station. From our hotel to the station, when we first came we used the underground subway passage that led us from the Shinjuku station out to the street via Exit A18, thus saving us about 1/2 the walk sheltered from the elements. This was great when it rained. But starting today we learned to use the surface streets which let us enjoy more of the surroundings. Also this exit A18 was closed each night.
We had help from a station security person showing us how to buy an all-day pass for subway. There was a button which said something like "all day" or "day pass", and also an English menu. Easy isn't it? Each pass costs ¥1000 and can be used on both subway systems, Metro and Toei.
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Soba shop and the ticket vending machine
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After we bought our metro tickets, we wandered about in the stretches of eating shops inside the station catering to the morning crowds. When people arrive at their destination and before walking out to their workplaces, they often stop by one of these shops for breakfast.
We passed a soba shop that had a fake display of the most common items on the menu. This was very common in Japan, where restaurants often enticed passerbys with a glass case displaying realistic-looking plastic trays and bowls of the food items offered by that restaurant. We heard there was even a market that specifically sold these types of plastic items. So, we looked at the display in front of this soba shop, and decided to try. This is one of the places where you buy a meal ticket from a vending machine set up in front of the shop, then hand it to the man inside and wait for your meal. As you might know, soba and udon are 2 common types of noodles in Japan. Ramen is a third type, much more hearty, and originated in China.
The push-buttons on this machine were color-coded. Blue ones were for cold dishes, which were not usually eaten in the morning except on hot days. White ones were hot dishes. Light yellow ones were for ramen, and dark yellow ones were for curry dishes.
Since this was the first time we attempted something like this, we watched how people bought tickets, and then tried our luck. Inside, the man asked whether we wanted soba or udon and we said soba. I picked a cold Kinbura-ten, and my wife's Tanuki was hot and had nori (seaweed).
The food came out quite fast, a minute or two, and simple. A bowl with a spoon, served on a tray, which you then carried and found a seat in front of a counter. On the counter are some condiments like pickled ginger, shichimi, and a case of chopsticks. Just slurped away at the noodle and enjoyed. My soba came with a scoop of wasabi stuck to the side of the bowl, hmm, interesting, didn't know cold soba could be that good with wasabi!
Interesting note about the spoons: they have a notch so that it would perch on the rim of the bowl without falling in. Why didn't I think of that?
With breakfast taken care of, we headed out to try the subway. In the hurry, we left our umbrella under the counter. As we found out, this would caused us some inconvenience later on in the day.
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Hie Jinja shinto shrine in Akasaka
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We took the Ginza line out to Akasaka Mitsuke station around 8:30am, and went straight to the shrine, which sat right in the middle of office buildings, like other shrines and temples in Tokyo. You walked south along the wide 6-lane Sotobori Avenue and suddenly a gap opended up in between the buildings and there it was. We entered through the back gate which is on the West side, not the main gate on the South side. On the right was the elevator, but we turned left which led you to a light of stairs up to the Inari Sando torii gates.
We wanted to see this shrine because of the many torii gates erected here by companies and individuals praying for whatever they wanted.
We followed an old lady climbing up the stairs and saw right in front of us the banners and then a long flight of stairs covered with bright red Inari Sando torii gates. It was early in the morning, it rained all night before, so the air was fresh and the ambience was incredible. We were the only people there (where did the old lady disappeared to?).
At the top of the stairs was the big gate. Mosquitoes were abundant here in the damp morning hours so beware.
This shrine main theme is monkey, which is believed to bring marital harmony and fertility. We observed 2 guys who came to prayed. They made an offering by dropping coins into the wooden box (saisenbako), pulled on the big cord in the middle to ring the bell as a way to call for attention, bowed then clapped loudly twice followed by another bow, and prayed. I recently found this web page which explained the prayer ritual in more details.
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| Miko
While we were in the courtyard, a young miko (maidens who assisted in maintenance and ceremonies) in a bright red hakama passed by. The pure white kimono contrasted with the bright red hakama, and the way she walked briskly but elegantly just struck me as sublime, so fresh and pure like an opening flower in the distilled and quiet morning air. I managed to record this wonderful picture.
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General components of a shrine
This
shrine was going to be the only shinto shrine we probably had time to
explore, so I used this opportunity to learned about its general
structure and component.
Besides the emblematic torii gates, in the
main grounds was the main worship hall (haiden, 拝殿, Bái Điện) with a big courtyard where 2 big stone lanterns tōrō (燈籠)
stood. There were a patio with a row of sitting benches covered in
bright red cloths. The benches were also covered in plastic sheetings,
we're not sure whether it's because of the rain, or it's to protect the
fabric. The benches looked out to the main courtyard through a
beautiful wisteria arbor.
You will see many of these red benches when visiting shrines and
Buddhist temples, they are often used as a place to rest for
refreshment while visiting.
There was a cleansing fountain temizuya (手水舎)
for purifying your hands and mouth. This particular one had a sensor
which triggered 3 streams of water down from the eave when someone
approached it. You can see there is a scroll posting the "Word for the
Month of October".
To its right was a small omikuji (written oracles,
quẻ) structure and on its other side was a nice bamboo grove.
Also offered at shrines are the votive tablets (ema). They are painted with various scenes and prayers.
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There were several types of lanterns at this shrine, with different designs, so I took stock of them:
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under the eaves of the veranda;
| under the eaves of the temple gate;
| adorned the post of the main shrine.
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Emerging from the peacefulness of the shrine back into the hustling world, we made an excursion into the side streets behind the Metro station (close to the Belle Vie Akasaka store) and found a restaurant row. Feeling hungry already though it's only 10:30, we popped into a Soba house and got our 2nd dose of soba in 1 day, though this time I tried the udon. This time we took pictures of what we ordered. Noted in the right bowl was tofu skin and an egg (tamago). Eggs are boiled in Japan just to the right degree, so that the white and yolk both are soft. I was told that the trick is to punch a hole on top of the egg and keep the egg upright while boiling with the hole at the top. We got to try making it some time to see if it works.
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Replenished,
we moved on to the next destination which was also conveniently located
close to a subway station but not a JR station: Sensō-ji in Asakusa.
This way we could maximize the value of the subway ticket.
Arriving
at Sensō-ji which is only 1 block West of Asakusa subway station Exit
1, we started noticing there were a lot of tourists in front of Kaminari-mon
(雷門, Thunder Gate, Lôi Môn). The kanji on the big red lantern (chōchin) spelled
out the word Thunder. The plaque on top says Golden Dragon Mountain
(金龍山, Kinryuzan, Kim Long San) We joined the fun, snapping pictures
left and right.
Passed this gate was the shopping street Nakamise-dori.
We walked the gauntlet of 200 meters of shops along this street, some
of which, even when closed, were showing interesting paintings drawn on
the shutters. You might also noticed the autumn leaf decorative motifs on either side of the street.
We then passed a Kindergarten on the left which prominently displayed a sign of No Entry. This Kindergarten belongs to the temple and the Chief Abbot is the superintendent. This is part of the social work associated with temple, the other major one being a general hospital.
We eventually reached Hōzō-mon (宝蔵門, Treasure Gate, Bảo Tàng Môn). The path leading up to it was lined on both sides with lanterns
which were lit up after dark. From the signs posted on the gate (Bản
Đường Lạc ... 50 Chu Niên, Kỷ Niệm Khai Trương Năm B́nh Thành 15/10
- 16/11) we guessed that it's the 50th Opening Commemoration of Hondo
(the main hall) from Oct 15 ~ Nov 16, so we were exactly 1 week early,
but close enough  . This gate was 2 stories high, much more massive than the outer gate, and had its own red lantern which carried the name of the town Funamachi (小舟町), plus 2 more black lacquered copper lanterns
(tōrō) flanking its side. If you looked closely at this picture, you'd notice
that it wasn't covered in netting, unlike the Thunder lantern, making
it prettier in pictures. On the other side of the gate, you could see 2
giant straw sandals (wariji) hung on either side.
Once you passed under Hōzō-mon, on the left there was the five-storied pagoda which was actually a 2 storied temple administrative building reconstructed to have the apearance of the original structure.
The sky was covered in heavy clouds making it looked as if it's getting
dark, even though it's high noon! Straight ahead was the main temple.
One thing that struck us the moment we saw the temple, was how massive
its roof was. We have never seen any roof so expansive and massive like
this one, it's like you could have a football game up there. Just look
at the people in this picture
and compare with the roof. In the courtyard behind the main hall there
was a monument of some sort but I forgot to take a closer look. It's in
this picture. My
guess is that it's the tree which had regrown from the husk of an old
tree destroyed in the WWII air raids, and has become a peace
symbol like the temple itself.
The main hall again had a big red
lantern but I didn't take a picture of it, feeling a bit overfed with
lanterns. In front of the hall there were a stack of what looked like
water buckets stacked into a pyramid. We then walked into the hall,
admired the inner altar called gokuden, and the magnificiant ceiling paintings, and amused ourselves at the excitement of the folks reading their omikuji (oracles, ¥100 each if I remembered correctly).
Back outside, we again walked around the grounds, saw a very beautiful and enlightened Buddha bronze statue, a well-positioned bridge in a fenced off area, and a small pond with some nice koi: kohaku and sanke.
By the time we reached this Shakyo pagoda used to store hand-copied sutras offered by followers,
we felt some rain coming. We had time only to rush back to the omikuji
house across from Hōzō-mon before it started to pour. Well, that's for
forgetting the umbrella earlier in the morning at the soba place.
However the good thing is watching people taking shelter under the Hōzō-mon.
5
minutes later, with the rain letting up, we started leaving the main
grounds and headed south through Hōzō-mon and turn right around the
Kindergarten for the side street of Denbōin-dori which ran
east-west, heading west hoping to find an entry to Denbō-in. Denbō-in
is the residence of the monks of Sensō-ji. Unfortunately we found that
all entries were closed off. When we visited we didn't know that we
could apply for permission to visit Denbō-in garden. Knowing about this
now doesn't make me feel bad at all, since we also visited Kyoto where
there were many much more beautiful gardens. But you bet that we
would've applied for admission had we known then. So if you go, make
sure you give it a try, the postcard looks quite good.
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While walking, it started raining again. My wife stopped at the shops along the Denbōin-dori checking out stuff, then we passed the locked gate of Denbō-in which was right at the T-intersection with Orange-dori. Walked a bit further west from there we finally took shelter in Chingo-dō. This was a less known spot away from the tourist crowds just a block away, peaceful and looked especially tranquil under the heavy rain. The inscription reads that this is the temple of the Racoon Dogs, a god of the art of public entertainment, and also protect people from fire and robbery. In this temple we found also a statue of Jizo Bodhisattva (Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Earthstore Bodhisattva, Địa Tạng Bồ Tát). Children are among those protected by Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva, who travels to wherever there are people who are mired in the darkness of unhappiness and fear, unable to free themselves, even in Hell. Thus we see in this picture the souls of the children being rescued by Bodhisattva.
Behind the statue was an iron fence which allowed us to peek into the Denbō-in pond. It wasn't big, and it had a lot of vegetation around the edge.
The rain soon stopped and we walked back to the station around 2PM.
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View Larger Map
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We were disappointed with Omotesando. From the Lonely Planet book we were hoping to find street cafes where we could rest our feet and got away from the rain, but we didn't find any at street level. Any cafe we found are in buildings or in fishbowls. There was a lack of flow or connect between the street and what's going on in the buildings. How could Lonely Planet claimed that it was the closest to the Paris experience? There was none! I would have to reread this section to see if we looked at the wrong place, but we explored the whole stretch from Meiji-Jingu-mae subway station to Omotesando subway station. Thus after an hour or so exploring the shops along this avenue, we left for Harajuku train station.
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Takeshita Dori in Harajuku, and Noa Cafe
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Here my wife finally found her favorite people watching spot.
From
Harajuku train station exit, just cross the street and walked left up
the slope, and you'd run into the beginning of Takeshita street filled
with the young crowd. It's a crowded shopping arcade. Having walked all
day, some time under the rain, we saw Noa cafe and immediately agreed
we needed a caffein shot and a rest. It turned out to be our favorite
place to relax and enjoy watching people up close. We shared the layered Mont Blanc Parfait ice cream that combined as a set with my wife's cafe au lait order. I had an iced coffee. Very good coffee and nice presentation. We sat near the window and just watched the crowd just feet away. Perfect afternoon.
A bit after 4pm, we picked up and left for some more shopping, or browsing to be exact. We went into the Daiso everything-¥100 store, the equivalent of a 99¢ store here in the States, except this one has 4 floors! Just browsing, didn't find anything we needed. We then took the train back to Shinjuku.
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Tokyo Metropolitan Government (東京都庁, Tochō) observation deck
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Since it just got dark, and our hotel was very close to the Metropolitan building which had the observatories on its 45th floor, we rushed there hoping it's not yet closed. We worried too much. A security guard we came across told us that it's not closed until 9pm. Phew. We took the North observatory (turned right at the building entrance) after going through a security bag check. At 202 meters high, this spot beats any other one for a view of Tokyo from up high. There was a group of students on a field trip at that time so it's noisy, crowded, hot, and stuffy. After they left, things quieted down but still too hot. My wife couldn't take the heat so we didn't linger long, we left immediately after I got my pictures.
This picture is to the South, showing the Shinjuku Park Tower (the closer one, on the left, with many beacons) and Tokyo Opera City Tower (the other one smaller to the right).
The second picture looks to the NorthEast towards where we were staying, though our hotel was not viewable from this angle. Shinjuku train station is the glob of lights glowing behind the building on the right. From the left of the picture are
- the Sumitomo Building,
- the Mitsui Building,
- the Sompo Japan building (slender at the top and curved out at the base into a wedge shape), and
- the Shinjuku Center building.
The oblong-shaped building is new so it was not in the guide map displayed in the observatory, it's the Mode Hal Iko building, which reminds me of the St. Mary Axe building in London. And what a strange name, it is actually made up of 3 schools:
MODE → Tokyo Mode Gakuen (school) 東京モード学園
HAL → HAL Tokyo Computer Engineer school (HAL東京, モード学園系列のコンピューター系クリエイター・エンジニア学校）
IKO → 首都医校, a medical school
Before we left, we found an abandoned umbrella so we took it with us.
We got home around 6:35pm, had dinner in the room, and went to bed early because tomorrow was Tsukiji Market day, and it had been quite a long day for us. The market closed on Wednesday so Thursday was the best day for us to visit.
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