Day 1 in Tokyo! We originally planned to visit Tsukiji this day, but because of my cold, we decided to postpone it to day 3. So we planned to hit up the Edo-Tokyo museum in Ryogoku, Asakusa, Ueno, and Akihabara.
Edo-Tokyo Museum (Ryogoku)
This is a museum in Eastern Tokyo that has exhibits which tell the history of Tokyo, from when it was the farming village of Edo to the modern day. This place was pretty cool, with a fair bit of (good) English explanations. Beats China, where even the official English signs at places like the Great Wall sound like they came from Babelfish…
They had a replica of Nihonbashi, which is the bridge around which Edo developed.
And some models of what villages looked like in the old days.
Also a lot of cool artifacts. One of my favorite ones (which, sadly, I didn’t get a picture of, but found it on Google below) was the official document detailing Japan’s surrender in WWII. It’s cool partly because of its historical significance, but also because of something funny in the bottom half, where all the ambassadors for different countries signed. Apparently Canada messed up and signed on the wrong line, so all the other ambassadors had to cross out the next person’s title and sign there. Way to go, Canada, for making typos on official documents.
Asakusa
Then onto Asakusa! With lots of sakura!
Wait… aren’t those fake…?
But anyways, it was cool to finally see this temple. It was definitely very touristy, and not as nice as Kyoto’s temples, as we would later discover.
The shopping streets were also pretty interesting, with lots of shops selling food and souvenirs. At some point in our wandering, we found a Don Quixote, which kind of reminds me of Walmart, except much smaller and more Japanese. I got some face masks here because I was sick, and anyways it’s what all the cool kids in Japan wear when they’re sick. (Not really, everyone does, but I’ve been wanting to try for a while).
And then it was time for lunch at Daikokuya, which is not ramen like the one in LA, but tempura! A friend recommended it to me from her Japan trip. Finding it was an adventure, since we thought it was in Ueno, but it’s actually in Asakusa. Also, Tokyo addresses are confusing @_@. At least there are tons of maps on the streets, but it would also help if there were more prominent signs with the street names. Anyways, we eventually found our way after an hour of wandering!
And then another 45 min of waiting in line. Definitely worth the wait though. Most people got the tendon, which is tempura on rice, so we got tendon with shrimp tempura, and also fish and vegetables. It’s interesting, it’s not crispy like normal tempura, but definitely delicious.
Part 2 will be coming soon!
gybl travels 