mural inside asakusa station

today i woke up early due to a seiri accident at about 5am, (i.e., i started my period), and i had to handwash the sheets. while i was at it i decided to handwash my shirt too and hang it to dry all day. (i only have the clothes i wore on the plane and 2 other sets so i'll be doing a lot of laundry during this trip.) i showered and was ready shortly after 6am. then i had to wait for the rest of the girls to get up and get ready. we finally left around 8:20am. we took the ginza line to asakusa. it took a moment to find the station! i looked at the map and it's right next to the ueno station we've been taking. we were standing where it should be but i just could not see it. then i noticed some stairs going down and i realized: the ginza line is underground! doh, that is why the map looks like that. now i know that when it's drawn like that it means that it's a subway. this line is run by another company so it is not covered by our pass but we're not going far.

asahi beer building

a couple stops later we arrive at asakusa station. we emerge back above ground and i am trying to get a sense of the surroundings in order to figure out which is the right direction to take to the temple. the temple is very close but i don't want to head the wrong way and then have to backtrack and lose time. we pick a way to go and it turns out it was the right way. by the way, when you walk up the stairs out of the subway station and emerge back above ground, you can immediately see the famous asahi brewery building. it's weird looking so it makes for a great photo to share with the folks back home when you talk about your travels.

kaminari-mon, sensou-ji, asakusa

the temple: it's called sensou-ji but it's more commonly known as asakusa temple. the large gate at the entrance is famous and it is called kaminari-mon (lightning-gate). there are two statues at the front on each side, behind chicken wire. they are of the buddhist gods raijin (the god of thunder/lightning) and of fujin (the god of wind). on the other side of the gate are also two more statues. i think of kannon and someone else. i am not buddhist and don't really know the deities. once you go past this front gate, there are tons of shops selling every sort of souvenir possible. the girls were going crazy looking at all the shops and i planned for 1 hour at the shops and 1 hour at the temple but we were going beyond that. i said we should see the temple first and then shop so we don't carry all the souvenirs with us and get tired. but we didn't do that. while we were looking at the shops, a film crew came in real quick and filmed some actor and model as they were walking down the main road of shops. i have no idea who it was but it caused a commotion and my mom kinda recognized the guy because she has a satellite dish and watches current japanese tv shows and movies. my mom asked some people what the actor's name is and it's kenji sakaguchi but no one knew the model's name.

me and the pagoda

finally we reached the main part of the temple. there are several little places one could pray at on the side but there is the main vat of incense (i don't know what to call it!) and main tsukubai which was quite ornamental (water purification wash basin). around these are the places to buy fortunes and other objects for good luck and such. then there is the main temple hall, a pagoda, and a side temple. the side temple area has its own statues, incense, tsukubai, and all that jazz. the whole complex is free, by the way. in the main temple there was a service going on which surprised me. i don't know what it was for. no one looked like they were there for anything in particular such as a funeral. there are so many pigeons at asakusa that they even have a statue for the pigeons.

care for a ride?

we left the temple grounds and immediately saw persons giving rickshaw rides. it is for tourists. otherwise you'd never see that in japan these days! what is this, 1906?! we went for lunch at a nearby italian place. i had a tomato sauce pasta. it was pretty funny trying to order a vegan pizza for twiddle thumbs. i asked the waitress if it is possible to order a pizza without cheese and she got this funny look on her face and said she thinks it is possible but she cannot guarantee that it will taste good. she went to the kitchen to double check and came back saying they could make it but again told us that she cannot guarantee that it will taste good. we just laughed. that's fine. please make it!

homeless sleeping on the grounds of the imperial palace, main plaza

we took the subway back to ueno and hopped on the loop line to use our pass to take us to tokyo station. we walked to the imperial palace. i had signed us up for the tour about a month back. japanese do not know about this tour. i was surprised there is even a tour. normally people think you cannot enter the imperial grounds or that the only time you can is the 2 days a year when they let the public in to hear the emperor give a speech. however, that is not the case. the imperial household agency will let you sign up to take a tour of a couple places that are closed to the public. one of them is the imperial palace in tokyo and the other places are in kyoto.

imperial grounds, tokyo

we were tired trying to get to the palace on time for the tour but we had to hurry. we asked the guard where do we go for the tour and when he pointed the way, all of us became frustrated because we could've walked straight there from the station but instead we went around to go to the main bridge that everyone usually goes to to get a glimpse of the imperial grounds. we wasted precious time and now have to walk even more. but we made it! we were a little late but they let us in. the whole group was sitting down in a building watching an introductory video. there were lockers in the back so we put our stuff in there--very convenient! we didn't have time to view the gift shop and it would be closed when we returned from the tour. damn, i'm curious to know what kind of imperial souvenirs they sell!

building the emperor gives his speeches from

once the video was over, everyone goes outside and stands in line as the guide gives the tour in japanese. they have audio units you wear and listen to for english, korean, and perhaps chinese or another common language for tourists in japan. it used to be that the only options in japan for tourists were english but there are so many korean tourists now that i was surprised to see how many places offered signs in japanese, english, and korean. the audio guides were spoken by different persons, some male, some female, some british, some american, and perhaps something else. it was kinda weird to go back and forth between these voices giving the explanations. i also listened to the guide in japanese and tried to translate some of that stuff to the girls but i think the audio guide covered everything. we didn't get to actually go into any of the buildings and it was just a bit boring though i'm so glad we did it because how many people can say they have been inside the imperial complex?! i think this will awe many japanese nationals when we mention what we did in tokyo. we were lucky that we went in the off season as i've heard the tour gets very crowded in the summer. even our guide said it was a small group so i think he let us wander around more than usual and didn't have to enforce as much crowd control. i do want to point out that there is more than one guard walking with the group and there is no way you can stray from the group. we would sometimes straggle behind to take pictures and felt the evil eyes of the guards to hurry up so we didn't get to take as many pictures as we would have liked.

lotus moat at the imperial palace

after the tour, we exited towards and went into the imperial collection museum. before we arrived there we passed a building where they were doing kendo practice and the door was only slightly cracked open so we got to hear it a lot more than we got to see it. my feet were so tired that i didn't want to see the museum but it was free and when am i gonna have another chance at this? so i went inside. it's small. it's basically 1 room. i saw pieces that suprised me. i don't think of japanese art being that way. i can't even say what they were but i think it was just a lot more ornate and gilded gold or something. you know, imperial!

yasukuni-jinja

we left the imperial complex very tired and sore but we still have much to see! this is our last day in tokyo, let's make the most of it! we didn't have the energy to walk much more so we took a cab to yasukuni-jinja shrine, the controversial shrine dedicated to war veterans. it's controversial for a couple reasons. firstly, japan was the bad guy during world war 2 so anything devoted to veterans in japan is going to get flack, in my opinion. second, prime minister koizumi (he just ended office last month) would visit the shrine to pray and this caused a lot of controversy with the countries that japan had wronged in world war 2. thirdly, there is a museum there that supposedly has a revisionist telling of japan's part in world war 2. i don't want to go into all of this shit but it seems to me that everyone needs to be a little more respectful, understanding, and aware. japan should educate its citizens about the atrocities, apologize formally and publicly to those wronged, etc. those who were wronged should also formally accept these apologizes and try to make peace with the past, though neither party should forget. i just try to imagine all the other countries involved in world war 2 in particular and i do not see as much animosity and controversy still occurring as it is between japan, korea, china, singapore, and such. can't we all just get along?

uncle, is that you?

alright, here's another aspect to yasukuni. i really wanted to go here to learn more about this controversy. i wanted to see the museum. i wanted to learn what specifically is at yasukuni that is causing all these problems. you know, it's not yasukuni itself so much as perhaps the mindset of the nation, actions of politicians, and policies of the government. you learn so much more by actually talking to people. i think more cultural exchanges between "enemies" are need to help facilitate learning, understanding, compassion, change so that we become "friends" and "brothers". ya know what i'm saying? when i walked around yasukuni, it was just like another war/veteran memorial. nothing in particular noticeable or special. i did see a statue for pilots which for japan means kamikaze and that's kind of a sore subject but there were statues for the animals who died during the war too. what was touching was the statue for the mothers and children left behind in the war. so many families suffered. if ww2 did not happen then i would not have been born. my mother would not have been born. it is that simple. war caused our family to be born. i hate war. i hate bases. i hate the military. i hate aggression. i hate hate. but it exists and we must learn to defuse tension non-violently.

masujiro omura statue, vice-minister of war

here's another point about yasukuni. because it is a shrine, souls are enshrined there. you may not want to be enshrined there but if you served in a war for japan then you become enshrined there. as such, those considered to be war criminals (a laughable term in my opinion because to me everyone who participates in war/facilitates war is a criminal, conversely i also believe anything goes in war because it's fucking war) are enshrined too and this is the main stigma for yasukuni. my uncle is enshrined there. he died before my grandfather hooked up with my grandmother, hence my mother never knew him. regardless, she does not want him there. i don't think a lot of okinawans want their relatives enshrined at yasukuni either because we were forced into the war. japan started it and okinawa suffered. respect to hiroshima and nagasaki but nowhere else in japan suffered like those 2 and okinawa. my mom talked to one of the guards about this enshrinement business and he couldn't understand why anyone would NOT want to be enshrined as the family gets paid for it. dude, it's not about the money. (and where is my money for this by the way? just kidding!!!) my mom also talked about yasukuni with the driver of the next cab that we took and he helped to shed another politically incorrect light on this controversy. just more insight into the older mindset i suppose. he didn't know why people complain as the soldiers were just doing their job, they were forced into it too or something like that. (sounds like germany?) and then also that those complaining (korea, china) should not complain about yasukuni if they are receiving aid from japan. (so you think you can buy people off? you must've spent time in america. hehehe)

after resting for awhile at yasukuni, (they have benches! i defy you to find benches and a public trashcan in japan in these post-9/11 days), we walked towards kitanomaru park. before we made it to the entrance, we stopped to use a public bathroom. they had a western toilet there to the relief of the sisters. (these old temples/shrines tend to have only japanese style toilets.) there was only one western stall so we took turns. after i finished, i walked out and didn't see them. a little old lady looked at me and pointed down the street. "nani?" (what?), i asked. she paused and thought very hard and managed to muster out in english, "your friend". i looked over and saw the sisters. "hai sou desu" (yes, that is correct), smiled and walked away. i told the story to the sisters and they said "how cute!". damn, they are right, it was cute! i should've ran back and talked to that cute old lady. she probably didn't even realize i spoke japanese to her like a lot of japanese don't realize. it cracks me up when i'm speaking japanese to them and they keep struggling trying to speak english or they have a fcc delay and 5 minutes later realize we are both standing there speaking japanese. my face is just too gaijin (foreigner).

i don't know who this guy is but he's popular with middle-aged women it seems and the engrish on his tour goods made me laugh

after the restroom incident, we walked to the budoukan, which is in kitanomaru park. i had planned that we would go there to watch the daily martial arts practice. i think today was supposed to be kendo and judo at 5:30pm. there was a concert so we didn't get to see inside but luckily we already saw a little kendo practice at the imperial grounds so that takes care of seeing martial arts in japan! seeing the budoukan is no big deal in my opinion but every rock fan knows of the budoukan from all the western bands that play there so twiddle thumbs was eager to see it. i haven't seen it since i saw a concert there in 1997 so i was glad to see it again too.

by this point we were really tired and couldn't walk to any station so we took a cab to ueno station, passing through the used book district of tokyo as well as part of the used sports gear district and used music instrument district. we didn't take the cab all the way back to the hotel because we wanted to have dinner at the hard rock cafe which is inside ueno station. (the larger train stations usually contain a complex of shops and restaurants.). twiddle thumbs's sister paid, nice! the food was a bit expensive for such fare but the service was excellent. i think there's just something about the hard rock cafe chain for americans--you just have to go to one when you travel. i will rarely go to the hard rock in america and never to my local one. i only go to a hard rock cafe when i'm in town for travel, like going to the hollywood one when i lived in santa cruz and would visit LA. we went into the gift store adjoining the restaurant and it's like they could read our musical hearts. for shortly after walking in, the music/tv screens changed to the music video for "toxicity" by system of a down. twiddle thumbs's sister just stared at us like the freaks we are when we started headbanging to the good part in the store.

view from tokyo government building, glare included for free

we walked back to the hotel and the girls fell asleep. my mom's friend came over and chatted. i didn't nap and chatted with them. this is my mom's friend through kangen water. she started telling me about all the things they have in common. the lady is also from okinawa and left, got married, had kids, a boy (older) and a girl (younger). she divorced when her kids were 6 and 2, my mom became a widow when her kids were 6 and 2. they both love dancing. blah blah blah. good for the old ladies then ^_^. my mom mentioned to her friend that we wanted to go to the tokyo metropolitan government building for the free observatory and her friend encouraged us to go and said she would go with us. so i woke up the sisters and we went though we were all dead tired. my god. walking every step there and back was killing me but we did it! my camera is shitty with low light conditions and i needed a tripod to take a decent shot of the city at night.

end of day blister count: 3

today's expenses in yen:
¥6500 hotel
¥280 subway fare? (i didn't write down how much it cost but it was cheap)
¥1280 lunch
(¥1880 dinner paid by twiddle thumbs's sister)
(cab fare to be paid back to my mom later)
plus a couple drinks from vending machines throughout the day to hydrate