Our first full day in Japan we devoted to an introductory tour of Tokyo. Our guide, Mark, was wonderful! He told us a lot about the history of the country and Tokyo/Edo. We visited the Senso-ji Buddhist Temple and Asakusa Shinto Shrine, then moved to Ninonbashi - an old commercial area, had a wonderful sushi lunch at Manten Sushi, and finished at the Menji Jingu Shrine.
Here we are approaching the Senso-ji temple, Tokyo's oldest, completed in year 645.
Once you pass through the first gate, the street leading towards the temple complex is full of people and various shops.
This shop is selling financial success cats. Maybe this is not their official name, but from the explanations of our guide, seems like every shop or business has one of those: the cat is waving with one paw, attracting customers, and with the other paw it attracts money.
Another interesting tidbit: the Senso-ji temple story starts with two fishermen, who pulled a gold Buddha statue out of the sea. They then went to a wise man, who told them to establish a temple. This painting shows the two fishermen, and various temple celebrations feature "two fishermen and a wise man" as a recurring theme.
This is a much more elaborate gate leading inside the temple complex.
Buddha's slippers hanging on the other side of that gate.
To go inside the temple building above, you take your shoes off and no photos are allowed.
Now we are approaching the Asakusa Shrine, a Shinto shrine set near the temple complex and coexisting in peace with the Buddhist temple.
Inside the Shinto shrine yard. On the left, behind the statue, is a water station where you purify yourself.
Approaching the shrine. No photos allowed closer up.
Still inside the Shinto shrine yard, notice two ricksha carts on the right.
Bell house with Toki-no-kane (Bell of Time).
The tour continues in Nihonbashi, an old commercial area with shops dating back 350 years. Here is entrance into the famous Nihombashi Mitsukoshi store and the majestic "Statue of Magokoro" - a wooden sculpture 11 meters tall.
Then it was time for lunch. Mark made a reservation at a very popular restaurant, Manten Sushi. Unlike our sushi restaurants, where you pick a few rolls to share, here it was a very elaborate meal, with the waitress bringing course after course, each item presented in an artistic way and Mark explaining what it is... I didn't count the courses and felt it would be obnoxious to take pictures of every single one, so here is just a couple of photos.
There was so much food, I thought I would not be able to eat again for at least 24 hours... We walked around some more... here is a photo of the monument marking Point 0, from where all the road distances in the country are measured.
Finally, we took a subway and walked some more to get to the Menji Jingu Shrine. This is the entrance gate to the shrine complex. The shrine was established in 1920, to commemorate the virtue of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, and so was the park. These tall trees were donated from all over the country to establish the park, then they kept growing for 100 years and now look like this.
From the gate to the shrine itself is quite a long way through the park. By the sides of the alley, you can see alcohol donations. It is usual to donate sake, but donating French wine to a shrine is less usual. Our guide told us the reason, but I forgot.
Finally, we enter the shrine yard.
Because no photos are allowed close up, Mark took a photo of us with the shrine in the distance.
In the Shinto religion, ropes with tassels and thunderbolts mark sacred objects. These are "husband and wife" sacred trees. Which led Mark to take a photo of husband and wife in front of these trees. (We saw other couples taking photos there, too.)
The tour was over. By then, I was very tired, but this evening was our only chance to go to Andy's Shin Hinomoto, a hole-in-the-wall type of place that was very highly recommended by two members of our family who already visited Japan - so we had to go there!
Andy is quite a character. And the food is good, so even though I felt after lunch that I won't be able to eat anymore that day, I really enjoyed it. Alex had some scary-looking crayfish, and I discovered for myself maitake mushrooms. They are delicious! After that time, I ordered them every chance I got.
