After a short stop at Ueno Park(click to view the post), we went to Sensoji Temple. Sensoji Temple is also known as Asakusa Kanon Temple. It is one of Tokyo's most popular and colorful temples. The iconic part of Sensoji Temple is the giant red lantern in front of the temple where you will see everyone taking pictures with it.
On that day, there were so many people and I was pissed off as I couldn't take a single picture without someone photobombing me. I recommend you to go there when it's not weekend and public Japanese holidays.
I also tried "omikuji" which is a fortune paper that shows your luck for that day or month! It is a kind of fortune-telling in a small piece of paper on which one's fortune is written. You can get it at plenty of shrines and temples all over Japan. The price for the omikuji at Sensoji Temple is 100yen. You just need to shake the metal can until one chopstick comes out, and then look for the drawers that has the word printed on the chopstick. I got a regular fortune which is good I guess other than getting bad luck fortune hehe. If you get the bad luck fortune you have to tie it and hang it on the given spots(you will see a place where theres tied omikuji hanging).
Passing through the vermilion-lacquered Kaminarimon Gate, which is famous as the symbol of Asakusa, you will find Nakamise Street. Kaminarimon is the entrance to Nakamise, the front approach to Senso-ji Temple. The approximately 250 m long approach from Kaminarimon Gate to Hozomon Gate is called Nakamise-Dori. There are numerous stores lined up on this approach, about 50 on the east side and 30 on the west side, all of them old and historical. It is a street full of people selling Japanese snacks, souvenirs, and traditional Japanese food. They also sell kimono/yukata for you who wants to bring it home or wear it when in Japan.
I went there during Sakura season and I'm lucky to find a stall that sell sakura ice cream *yeay!*. Finally I know what sakura tastes like. It's sweet and sour more like strawberry but less sour I guess.
This is definitely a must-visit place in Tokyo as you get to enjoy two things: Sensoji Temple and Nakamise Street! If you have walked around the temple, I recommend you to walk through Nakamise Street and shop! There are plenty of Japanese-style goods there such as hair accessories, Japanese clogs, wooden dolls and chiyogami (colored paper), folk art products, postcards with the scenery of Asakusa in Edo Period (1603-1868), ningyoyaki and kaminari-okoshi, which are the representative souvenir confectioneries from Tokyo, and classic Japanese food using nori and kombu seaweeds.
Watch my travel video here:
Location:
2 Chome-3-1 Asakusa,
Taito, Tokyo 111-0032, Japan
Nearest Station: Asakusa
