Wandering Around Tokyo - Day 2

On today's walk to the train station, we passed this Japanese oddity. I have not seen anything like this driving around on the street. In fact, today I saw a Fiat 500 going down the road and it looked huge compared to many of the cars. Even the motorcycles and scooters seem large compared to some of the cars and tiny vans.

We took the train and subway to the Asakusa district of Tokyo and went in to see Sensoji temple. This was one of the oldest temples in common use. There were a lot of people in this area as there was a huge shopping area called Nakamise shopping street between this entrance gate and the temple about ¼ mile back. Lots of tourist stuff for sale at hundreds of small booths and shops.

This is the second gate right before the entrance to the temple. From this point on, the only shops were those run as part of the temple. There was a large smoldering fire burning incense which is visible in the next photo. It was interesting watching all the people coming to visit.

This photo was taken from the temple steps looking back towards the same gate. You can see the smoke from the incense fire as well as the fortunes for sale in the side buildings. Behind me was the large collection box for anyone who wanted to enter the temple itself. Lots of people and hot and humid. Not a great combination but very interesting. On the subway, there were more people talking but on the subway trip back, the train was standing room only again.

One of the many shopping areas in the Ginza region that we visited next. Lots of smaller shops mixed in with the large, name-brand stores such as Tiffany's and Apple. We had lunch here and I neglected to take a picture of my daikon salad and sushi.

One last picture as we headed back to the train station at the end of the afternoon. It wasn't as crowded here as there were in other areas of the city. I fully expected this area to have a lot of traffic and people but there was neither. Tomorrow, we take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto.