Quintessential Tokyo

Thursday was a FULL day. Lots of stops and most of them very quintessential Tokyo, according to our research. We still did not get up early enough to encounter the true rush hour on the metro, or the Women Only train cars (for those particularly busy times when there are metro employees at every door packing people into the trains). We took the train over to Asakusa in northeast Tokyo, a generally older part of the city and relatively quieter than Shinjuku. That's not to say that any area of Tokyo is particularly quiet, but we did find that certain sectors of the city had a different feel, not unlike any other major city. Asakusa seemed to be a bit less commercial.

Our wandering over to Asakusa was to visit the Sensoji Temple, which is a Buddhist temple and the oldest in Tokyo. The first gate of the temple lead us into a street of shops selling souvenirs and street food. Despite hawking various tourist-driven goods, it was actually a nice street to peruse and we picked up a few gifts here and there. At the end of the shopping street was the second gate to the temple, leading into a large courtyard and ultimately up to the temple. We took some time to visit the main hall and take in the Buddhist practices.



Shopping pre-temple!

Traditional kimonos among the tourists and locals. Beautiful details, love the intricate bows.



Courtyard of the temple, including a five-storey pagoda



In front of the main hall

From the steps of the main hall, with Hello Kitty

From the Sensoji Temple, we made our way over to Akihabara, a nearby district that is known for being the major area to buy household electronics, video games, anime and manga. It is also home to a number of large arcades where locals come at all hours of the day to play Dance Dance Revolution and games where you try to pick up a prize using a claw in just one horizontal move and one vertical move. We spent a lot of money on one of those games...with no success.


A typical Akihabara street




Trying to win the "pick up prize with claw" game

Upon emerging from the arcade and wandering the streets filled with bright signs and graphics, we walked by a typical girl on the street promoting the restaurant she worked for. Only she was dressed as a maid, encouraging us to visit Maidreamin which we confirmed was a maid café upon entering. Maid cafes are popular in Japan, and a very unfamiliar experience for us. Once we were seated, we were each given a set of bunny or bear ears to wear during our "meal" (a drink and a snack, which cost about $40!). Whenever something was brought to our table, we did a cheer with our maid server. No one is allowed to take pictures of the maids, but they will take plenty of pictures of the patrons, specifically while posing in "cat" or "cute" pose, both pictured below. While these cafes obviously have an undertone of subservience catering to a particular type of patron, we preferred to just enjoy the overall "Japanese-ness" of it and if nothing else, just to be able to say that we had gone to a maid café.

Cats!

A collage of Polaroids, the only pictures the maids would take with us. They decorated them before presenting them to us

At night, we went over to Shibuya to see the infamous Shibuya Crossing. 100,000 people cross through this intersection per day, which seems prime for accidents but as with most other things in Tokyo, is totally orderly and efficient. Traffic is stopped in all directions while pedestrians cross every which way throughout the crossing. It was a pretty crazy sight.



Had to get a picture with Hachiko, the Akita who waited at the train station for his owner every day for nine years after the day his owner died and did not return home *sniff*. Tony Tang would totally do the same for one of us, right?

Sometimes you need a little help from your friends. Selfie sticks are hard work.

The insanity!!!