Japan Day 15 P1

After my little "strike" over the wkend, Leecher was "forced" to blog Day 14 (most of it)! Sometimes, going on strike is good, lol ... just kidding. I was busy with personal stuff & Leecher 难得 took the initiative to blog.

Anyway, after 2 days of magical adventures in Disneyland & Disneysea, its back to Tokyo sightseeing. Today marks the last full day in Tokyo before we pack our bags and leave the land of the rising sun to sunny Singapore.

Our 1-day Tourist Open Ticket pass as our JR pass had expired.

Our first time taking the Metro. We were on the JR trains for the past 14 days. Personally, I prefer JR trains as I find that they are located in more strategic locations as compared to the Metro. En-route to Asakusa, 2 stops away from our apartment.

Asakusa is one of Tokyo's few districts, which have preserved a certain atmosphere of the old Tokyo. Kaminarimon (seen above) is the first of 2 large entrance gates leading to Sensoji Temple. Built more than 1000 yrs ago, it is the symbol of Asakusa. The Nakamise shopping street leads from Kaminarimon to the temple grounds.

The famous Asakusa Nakamise shopping street. Nakamise is one of the oldest shopping centres in Japan.

Food! This pinky stall attracted my attention. Since we are in Japan, must try sake & this version is sweet sake :) Nice!

Kibidango aka millet dumplings. They are so soft & smooth that literally melt in your mouth!

Next, we tried home-fried beanjam bun (seaweed flavour) aka "Goma Age Manjyu”. There are many varieties, but most have a filling of red bean paste, made from boiled azuki beans & sugar.

The main attraction of Asakusa - Sensoji, a popular Buddhist temple built in the 7th century. The temple is dedicated to the god of mercy, Kanon. It was built after a golden statue of Kanon was fished out of the Sumida River by 2 brothers in 628. All attempts by the brothers to return the statue to the river failed as it was always returned to them. In 645, the temple was built around this statue and the legend was completed. The temple's buildings were almost all destroyed in air raids on March 10, 1945 and were reconstructed after the war.

The gigantic slipper (zori) hanging at the 2nd entrance to the temple! It was hung so high up that we couldn't even reach 1/4 of its height after jumping.

*bed time now for me, to be continued in p2*