Monday, March 14, 2016

Akakusa, Senso-ji Buddhist Temple and Rain


Yesterday was wet! A medium drizzle continued all day, like a dripping faucet. In this incredibly crowded city, personal space became even more valuable because everyone had their umbrella out. All day long I was waiting for someone to accidentally poke my eye out with their umbrella as the mass of humanity swept by us.
We were not going to be stopped by the rain though. So off we trudged to Asakura district. In a city where there are very few buildings older than 50 years because of the wartime boming, Asakusa has a greater concentration of buildings from the 1950s and 1960s than most other areas in Tokyo do. There are traditional ryokan (guest-houses), homes, and small-scale apartment buildings throughout the district. Asakusa is Tokyo's oldest geisha district, and still has 45 actively working geisha. We saw none of them.
I was able to keep my bearings the Asakusa because of the sperm building. The streets are covered approaching the Temple area.  Sanja-san, ("Shrine of the Three gods"), is one of the most famous Shinto Shrines in town. Unlike many other structures in Tokyo, the shrine survived the Tokyo air-raids of 1945.
Temple Guard
 

Buddha's of Wisdom and Compassion
Warm fish cookie, filled with chocolate

Where's Waldo? He's here and there!
 It was an early day, as we both have only brought one pair of shoes and we needed desperately to dry them out before we fly out to the Philippines tomorrow.  Next post from Dumeguete Philippines!

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