We also wanted to check out the Tokyo National Museum which is located in the Ueno area, right next to Ueno Park. A fabulous breakfast later, we headed out to Nakamise Shopping Street, a straight pedestrian street leading to Sensoji Temple, lined with shops and booths. Our ryokan is located in a side street of Nakamise, so everything is very close by. We were pretty early and not all of the shops had opened yet, but we wanted to dodge the crowds.
Ryokan breakfast
Nakamise Shopping Street, leading to Sensoji Temple
Of course we had to stop and shop, but we figured we're on vacation and who cares when we get to the museum! Lynda had developed a condition where she was convinced nobody she knows has enough purses--coin purses, tote bags, bottle purses, etc. As a result we stopped in every shop which had items even closely resembling a purse and I ended up with 2 purses I didn't know I needed until I had them.
At the end of the street and after passing the temple gate, we saw people standing in front of a bunch of wooden drawers, shaking cylinders and pulling out metal sticks. Upon further inspection, we saw that there were instructions in English and these were fortune sticks. I tried it first (you throw 100 yen, about $0.92 into the coin box, shake the cylinder until you can fish a stick out, compare the sign on the stick to a corresponding drawer and pull out a sheet with your fortune) and it looks like I have a great future ahead of me. Lynda on the other hand was not so lucky .Her fortune pretty much stunk, but not to worry, there are provisions for that--you just tie the paper on a rack and let the universe take care of the rest! Lynda is demonstrating the whole procedure below. I did shorten the first part of the video depicting the shaking process, because it's not an easy task to get one of those sticks to come out and it takes forever!
Lynda and the fortune sticks
Sensoji Temple, honoring Kannon
Pagoda next to the temple
Booths at the temple
Inside the Sansoji Temple; it was not allowed to take a picture/film the Kannon statue.
Wandering around the temple area:
At that point we had gathered so much loot that we headed back to the ryokan to deposit our items before going to the museum. On the way we passed one more shop we had to investigate; the owner was able to tell us a lot of the meanings of the patterns on the--you guessed it--bags, purses and handkerchiefs. This is the shop:
Now to the museum--for real! We got off the subway at Ueno Station and walked past the Science Museum and Ueno Park.
Baseball is a big deal in Japan
Science Museum--Tim, is this correctly restored?
The Tokyo National Museum is huge, but admission is so cheap (about $5.50)! It consists of several buildings, of which we visited the 2 main ones. I only took a few pictures and they are Samurai-heavy, but here's a short video:
That was tiring! We were going to take one short walk through Ueno Park, then try to be at a tofu restaurant we had read about around 5, so we would get a table. Alas, that didn't quite happen as planned since there was a market at the park--people watching! With beer and sake! There were two rows of vendor booths and I acquired two new ceramic tea cups. Lynda checked out the--do I even have to write it?--purse booths, but she was a good sport, hanging out at the ceramics place with me.
Ueno Park market
There was also a whole row of food and drink booths--something you can't just pretend like it's not there! We thought a little snack and a drink before dinner couldn't hurt and got ourselves delicious okonomiyaki (a type of pancake to which you can add all kinds of things--this is an after-war invention) and beer and sake at the drinks booth. I couldn't believe the sake actually came in a water glass with a pop-tab lid on it!
Market sake
Tables for eating at the market
After the market experience it was time to head towards the restaurant. Sasa-no-yuki was mentioned in both our travel guides and it specializes in tofu dishes. They make their tofu fresh daily and it's run by a bunch of older ladies. What have I said before about Japanese grannies? Can't go wrong with their cooking! Only no cats this time.
We walked there and actually found it right away, thanks to our rented WiFi box, Google Maps and pictures of the restaurant on Google Maps. Most of these restaurants don't have their name written out in romanji (English alphabet letters), but only in kanji. So not only did Google help us find the way, it also helped us identify the correct building by providing pictures. I should mention that many restaurants aren't only located on the ground floor of a particular address, but they can be on any (or sometimes there's one on every) floor of a tall building. So finding just the address is only half of the game.
Sasa-no-yuki occupied its own large building and it was traditional, meaning you have to take your shoes off before entering and walk with your socks on the carpeted floor to the dining room. We chose eight courses of tofu so we could try everything and it was good, right down to the tofu ice cream!
8 courses of tofu deliciousness
By this time we were sufficiently tired and headed back to visit Sensoji Temple one last time, hopefully without the crowds, and see it in its illuminated glory.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Japan!
Great foods everywhere and that's why I gained 8 lbs!!! You sure enjoyed your stay in Japan as usual!
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