Travels in Tokyo: Asakusa, Akihabara, and Shibuya

Our second day began with a tour, this time a food tasting in the Asakusa neighborhood. Asakusa is famous for the Sensō-ji Buddhist shrine, and there are many stalls and shops that surround it. Also, it was a holiday called The Festival of Ages, which was mentioned last post, and brings with it many Japanese clothed in Edo-period dress, including bright, beautiful kimonos, so there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of people.

We arrived a bit early, so walked around the temple grounds; there are many stalls selling all kinds of wares; but there were too many people to stop and browse for long. We made our way under the shell-shaped street covering, to where our food tasting tour would begin.

We met our guide, an American named Max in his early 20’s, along with the rest of our group. All but one Australian woman were from the US. Our first stop was for sushi, in a hidden, 2nd floor restaurant found on the above pictured street. We tried six sushi pieces, including one made of ground “tuna head.” Next we stopped for a quick “sweet potato fritter”, a local specialty. We sat down for some sake, tempura, and soba noodles at the next spot, and stopped at a street vendor for some mochi; glutinous, doughy balls made of rice. Mine was barbecue flavored (upper left below), Jesse’s was mildly sweet (pink/white/green ones).

We finished our Asakusa food tour with some ice cream. It was a hot day in the sun, even for early November. I ordered the regular, tea-flavor, and Jesse had Matcha (made from green tea), and we wound up switching. That ended our short tour, and we parted ways with the group, walking a bit more around the Sensō-ji Buddhist shrine.

We went to get our Shinto Shrine book notated (as we did the day before) at the nearby Hikan Inari-jinja Shrine, where the fox (find them below) is the symbol of the shrine.

We found it quite interesting how many of the shrines were in neighborhoods, like the one above. We even got lost sometimes trying to find them, as the entrances may be slightly obscured.

A train ride away and we were in the Akihabara neighborhood, the center of anime, manga, video games and electronics; as such, the buildings are bright and colorful. Maybe it was us being tired from the earlier tour, or because it was midday and the area wasn’t lit up as it is at night, but after a trip up (and down) the 8-story bookstore elevators and walking around a bit, we were less than impressed (since we aren’t the target market for most of the shops), though still a cool area to explore.

This all preceded my most anticipated activity of our trip, driving go-karts through downtown Tokyo! A co-worker had told me this was an option, so we researched and wanted to do it at night to see all the lights of the big buildings. Before we left the States we went to Triple-A and attained our international drivers’ licenses, which was a requirement of the go-kart company.

Getting to the activity one desires to do most can be fraught with issues, and this journey was no exception. We left in (what felt like) plenty of time; but first, we boarded the wrong train. We finally got on the right train, and made it, just in time, to the location in the Shibuya neighborhood…only to find out, there are 2 locations in Shibuya for go-karts, and we went to the wrong one. Luckily they called the other location, and after another 15 minute walk, we made it to the right spot!

We watched the safety video, picked out our (unlicensed) costumes, and were joined by two ladies from the UK. To drive on the streets, the go-karts must be street legal (hence needing the international drivers’ license), so they had turn signals, break lights, the whole works. We had a lead driver, an American named Stan, and a driver following the five of us. Here’s Jessica and I in our costumes:

We had a super fun time driving around Shibuya. As we crossed the famous Shibuya scramble 5-way crosswalk, the busiest in the world, people waved and took our pictures. When we went down side streets people smoking outside bars gave us high fives. The smile didn’t come off my face until we pulled back into the garage.

Afterward, we stopped by a local bar and had some beers and shared a burger, still excited from our go-kart trip around Shibuya.

Before we headed back to the train, we had to snap some more night pics of Shibuya. Day 2 in Toyko complete…Wow, what a first two days!