We spent the morning in Ueno Park. Being a Sunday, the park was crowded with families out for the day. There was a huge Baseball pitch in the middle of the park and a team of kids were playing a competitive game. We watch about 5 or 6 innings and the final kid was caught out.
Ueno Park has a zoo and we were tempted by the photos of the pandas. However, we found out they had arrived but were not going to be allowed out for a couple of days - so gave it a miss.
Once in the park we were overwhelmed by how many shrines and temples there were. It was like a maze and every couple of minutes we would find a new hidden gem. The shires were fronted by burning incents and the smoke gave the place a truly spiritual buzz. There were also buddhas at every shrine and large wells were you could wash your hands in spring water.
After an hour or so, we jumped on the subway and headed for Asakusa for the Shinso-ji temple. Wow, it was awesome. We had seen some temples in Ueno park, but this was huge, maybe 4 or 5 times as large, the mother of all temples. In the background we could also see the new tv tower, the locals seemed more interested in that than the temple. It was interesting to see the contrast of the old and new.
The sun was out so we decided to get 'street food' for lunch. We looked at what the locals were eating and opted for that. Cabbage and bacon in a tray with lots of soy sauce and Ginger. It was amazing. Still hungry though so maybe some more later...
The area surrounding the temple was a buzz of lanes and side streets. A real hive of activity. We found one street where the local kids were dressed up as Anime characters and rein acting scenes from the movies. They looked awesome, and loved us taking photos.
We are now sat here on the crossroads of two lanes, the sun is out, there's an amazing buzz around and we have 2 large bottles of Asahi to enjoy.
Doesn't get much better than this.
Andy and Leanne
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