It’s officially my last week in Japan. The next few days will probably be the busiest sightseeing days I’ve had since I initially came six weeks ago. Yesterday, I went back to Tokyo with my best friend to see Sensoji Temple and the Skytree observatory which were recommended by friends. I was also taught a valuable lesson last night, always know when the last train back home is.
Our day started by leaving Kyoto by Shinkansen(bullet train) to Tokyo. We left around 12:30pm and arrived around 3:00pm in the afternoon or so I think. On the way there, I finally got to see Mt. Fuji which was pretty, pretty, pretty, good. I’ll be making a visit to the Kawaguchiko area on its north side later on this week so stay tuned for that. Getting to Sensoji and Skytree from Tokyo station is pretty easy. You can just take the Ginza line till its final stop in Asakusa for the former and switch to the Tobu-Skytree in the latter’s case. Either way, they’re not very far from each other by walking. Probably around 15–20 minutes from the main gate leading to Sensoji to Skytree’s entrance. Here’s a little tour of both!
Sensoji is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo and it has the Asakusa Shrine, one of the more famous Shinto shrines right next to it(I also went to see this cause why not). The temple has been around for almost 1400 years and the early Buddhist influence in Japan is shown explicitly in the architecture of the buildings and the paintings in the main keep. It is dedicated to a bodhisattva called Kannon who is the god of mercy. The approach to the temple starts with the Kaminarimon Gate(Thunder Gate) and leads through the Nakamise Dori, Hozomon gate, and then the main complex. I took many pictures of the gate. It was pretty cool and the gigantic paper lantern in the middle gives a pretty fearsome impression.
This picture is from the back of the gate leading into Nakamise Dori. Nakamise Dori is a street filled with shops selling souvenirs, snacks, and all sorts of items to tourists. Sensoji is related with one of the biggest Shinto festivals in Japan called the Sanja Matsuri that happens in May usually. As I already mentioned, the Asakusa Shrine is right next to the temple and the festival is a celebration of the three men who founded Sensoji that are enshrined in the Shrine to its right. I wish I could have gone, but I was already preparing to leave to Kyoto when it happened. Once you get through the state, you hit the Hozomon gate. Similar to the entrance gate with a giant paper lantern hanging in the middle, it also has two wooden sculptures of Devas on each side made in the 60’s. They are said to be guardian deities for the temple according to the description, but they were pretty scary too.
Once inside the main complex, the immediate thing that grabs your attention is of course the main building where people are praying in. As always, I didn’t take pictures of people praying because it’s rude. What I did do was take pictures of the paintings on the ceilings showcasing the early Buddhist influence of Japan that has its roots in the Indian subcontinent. Particularly, the depictions of Buddha.
Inside this area, there are also shops selling charms, prayer beads, and other things as well as people praying to religious imagery behind the gate. The gold laced imagery hanging from the ceiling, the altar, and the light of the candles created an atmosphere conducive to prayer I thought. In this barred area, there seemed to be a ceremony taking place at the time as well. A group of people in front of a monk to the left were bowing their heads. Another person located in the center prayed to the imagery. I couldn’t tell what was going on and we were pressed for time so we headed to the shrine right next to the temple.
Asakusa Shrine is a Shinto Shrine dedicated to the three men who founded Sensoji. Tokugawa Iemitsu(third shogun) built this shrine for their spirits. The festival I mentioned earlier is to honor these men. Again, the entrance is marked by a torii gate, but one similar to the one seen in Ise. The shrine in comparison to Sensoji is pretty small and simplistic with an altar to pray and some quarters right of the entrance. One thing that caught my attention was a large circle made of rope(I think) before the altar. Here, people walked through it and made a loop similar to the infinity sign before praying.
A local saw me staring at people(worst would be anthropologist) and explained to me that this is a purification ritual before prayer. It expels evil spirits, diseases, bad fortune and things of that nature. It is called Oharae and the circle is made of straw and called a Chinowa. It’s apparently something that only happens during the end of June/December relating back to a decree from the Nara period imperial court. That part I found out online.
After we finished our exploring, we went to the Asakusa shopping district and had a lunch of tempura don thanks to Yelp. Gotta get that elite status somehow, right? It was really good, but I’m known around my group of friends as a black hole where food just continuously gets sucked in. I also can’t eat anything salty without something sweet right after so I went to the Baskin Robbins near the subway station and had a triple scoop cup watching the sunset before we headed to the Skytree.
The Skytree is the tallest tower in Japan and until the completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest tower in the world. It measures around 634m(around 2100ft). It was completed in 2012 and now takes over from the Tokyo Tower as the main broadcasting site. It’s an imposing structure.
I had already gone to the Tokyo Tower when I was in Tokyo prior to the start of the Ritsumeikan program. It had excellent views too and I encourage people to go there too. From there, I had saw the Skytree in the distance and I wanted to go there. My friend who had visited it before also encouraged me to do so.
There are two ways to enjoy the views from the Skytree and it depends on how cheap you are. You can either enjoy it from the 350m observation deck or the 450m deck. A pass for an adult costs about 20 dollars for the first and 30 total for the next. In order to reach the 450m deck, you have to go to the 350 one first and pay an additional 1030 yen. I decided on the first. An extra 100m didn’t seem worth an extra $10 dollars when the first deck is already at a height that parallels the height of the Tokyo Tower(334m). There’s also a fast access pass that costs around 30 for foreigners only with a passport. It cuts the time to get up to the deck, but at that particular day was not worth it because the line moved relatively quick. We were at the deck in less than 10 minutes(waiting to buy and going up).
Once there, you have access to restaurants/cafe and there’s some exhibits that show tourists where other landmarks like the Tokyo Tower are in relation to Skytree through an audio and pictorial representation. The tower seems to have a relation with Ultraman for some reason as well. There was a part where he passed around the tower flying through a set of monitors. It was funny. In case you don’t know who that is, here’s a quick primer. Besides that, the 350m deck allows you to go down 10m where there are sections of glass floor that allow you to see what a drop from there looks like. I hate heights and only went through walking over that because it got too crowded and I had to cross to leave. For people who want to pictures of themselves on the floor in various poses, there’s a booth set up by the Skytree people where they take your picture for about 10 bucks I think.
Unless you have a good camera, I think it’s hard to take really good pictures of the cityscape from the tower. There are bars not letting people take pictures with their phones via the use of the mirrors. Because of this, most of the photos had reflections of the mirrors or the lights from the background. I got a few without them. The 350m deck was also extremely crowded. Your best bet for shots is probably going down to the 340m section and take pictures, but the tradeoff is not being able to go around the entire circumference to take pictures of various sections.
We got out of the tower at around 8:45p.m. The Skytree area is filled with restaurants and somewhat luxury shops in case you’re hungry or looking to spend money. It’s definitely a popular tourist attraction. Unfortunately, due to my own negligence in reading the train scheduling right, we spent the night outside the station till the shinkansen service started again(6am).
Still, this is one of a few things I don’t quite get about Japan. You have this miraculously efficient public transportation service, but there’s a need for conductors? On top of that, it has to end at 11pm? What happens to the people who stay out with their friends and don’t live in the area? They’re punished for not catching the last train and possibly have to hole up in a hotel, their friends house(if they have space), or worse wander the streets even though their apartment is maybe an hour outside from their current location by train. I could somewhat understand the Shinkansen needing a conductor, but local trains or interregional trains? It’s really ridiculous that I couldn’t get back to my apartment leaving from Tokyo at 9:30p.m. in any way.
I also learned I wasn’t the only one waiting for the stations to open. The streets near the station were littered with people who were a little too tipsy from staying out with friends/co-workers and now had to wait 7–8 hours for a ride back home on a Saturday night. I still can’t wrap my mind around how this is acceptable. I guess I got a true taste last night of Japanese life and on that note, always know your train schedules when traveling here kids.
-Adrian
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