Tokyo Part Four - Kamakura and Asakusa

One morning, S had a bright idea that we would go to Kamakura and see the giant Buddah. So go to Kamakura we did. The train ride was about an hour long and when we got there, we looked for the ever faithful maps that we had become so accustomed to seeing around and we headed in the direction of the Giant Buddah.

About 2 hours later and still heading in the same direction, I wondered out loud if we were going in the right direction. I had a bit of a feeling we might have missed a turn somewhere. The traffic was thick and all heading the same way we were and so we just kept walking, thinking and hoping they were heading to the same place we were. After all, it was a few days past New Years and around New Years Japanese visit temples, shrines (and giant buddahs) to say their prayers and wish good fortune for the year.

 

Five hours and 7 km later (we stopped to take pictures, eat etc along the way) - at 3pm in the afternoon; the sun was starting to set. There was no sight of a buddah anywhere and my feet were starting to hurt. We noticed that there had been a train track that pretty much followed the path we walked so we walked up to that and had a look at the map on offer. We had walked 5 km too far. So, we hopped on the train; tired and exhausted and went the 5km back the way we came to see the Giant Buddah. 

By that time I was almost ready just to head back to our hotel, but I am so glad we jumped on that train to the Giant Buddah. It was absolutely breathtaking and I highly recommend seeing it. I would also recommend just taking the train and not trying to navigate your way by foot, but to each their own.

We really enjoyed our time seeing Daibatsu and joined the rest of those who were there in lighting incense and saying prayers for the year ahead. We also joined the many people drinking canned hot coffee from a vending machine in a meagre attempt at trying to warm ourselves. Kamakura doesn’t have many (any?) Japanese restaurants as it seems to be mainly a touristy area. We ended up stopping by a little Italian place and we had wood fired pizza for lunch. It was only 600Yen ($6.50) per pizza though, so we didn’t pay tourist prices!

The next day it was my turn to choose a destination. I was given instructions to choose something that was easy to get to and easy to get around. I had been to Asakusa when I went to Japan with school in 2004 and although I didn’t remember much of the place, I did remember it was beautiful.

We missed out on going to Kyoto due to bad planning and Asakusa was in a very small way similar to what I remember Kyoto being like. I knew S would enjoy it. When we got to Asakusa, we hopped off the train and headed towards Sensoji Temple. We got sidetracked at Nakamise; a popular shopping street that sells traditional souvenirs. The souvenirs are definitely overpriced, though there is a lot of interesting stuff and we spent a couple of hours looking through the different shops and choosing gifts.

Sensoji was quite busy but we were able to walk around the whole temple and get some good photos. We also saw a monkey show which was really impressive. That monkey was clever!

For lunch, we headed to the giant sperm Asahi beer museum. It was underwhelming to say the least. The restaurant itself was quite dark and dingy and the menu didn’t have too much on it. It was a definite tourist trap and we got sucked in!

After Asakusa, we decided to walk to the Tokyo Sky Tower that opened last year. I had no plans to go right up in it, since I’d already seen the view of Tokyo from quite high, but the shops in Sky Tree town were interesting to look around. We ended up here for dinner as well as we found a little Okonomiyaki restaurant and since that’s my favourite food, there was no way I could resist! I’d recommend Sky Tree Town as there is a lot to look at and a lot to do. Especially if you tack it on to a day at Asakusa. 

Our weekend

Since our holiday ended, S and I have been taking it easy and staying in as much as possible. You don't make money by spending it, after all (and houses don't buy themselves)

Saturday afternoon was the first time we've been out for drinks since getting back and the occasion was our good friends Birthday. We were supposed to start at the Carrington in Surry Hills and then move along to Oxford Street, but when 10pm rolled around (after being there since 3pm) we were ready to call it a night and head home.

The Carrington has a really relaxed vibe and is a really fun place to go for drinks. There is a tapas style menu available and I am happy to say that I had the best hot chips I have ever eaten - and I have eaten a lot of hot chips in my life. They were cooked in paprika (I think) and they gave off a really beautiful wood fired taste. The sauce to accompany the chips was a capsicum/tomato one and it complemented the smokey flavour beautifully. The Carrington also has little slider burgers and other types of tapas that we didn't get a chance to try.

We realised we have hardly any photos together, so last night we got about 30

The night was a lot of fun (apart from almost getting stranded in the bathroom when the door wouldn't unlock!) and it was really great to catch up with friends with some drinks and good food.

Sunday we spent the morning doing groceries and tidying the house before deciding to head to Clovelly so S could get some footage. We got there and since it had been stormy and windy around Sydney for the past few days the waves were quite aggressive. 

 

 

How did you spend your weekend?

Tokyo Part Three - Harajuku and Shibuya

If you want to see people dressed up and totally in their comfort zone, then Harajuku is the place to visit. A real mix bag. On Sundays, the different styles truly come out on show and the outfits you see can be quite incredible....and different.

Harajuku is also home to a huge park called Yoyogi Park. Popular for teenage dancers and bird enthusiasts alike.

 The teenagers practice their dance routines, often in costume whilst there are people around picnicking, people taking pictures of birds and groups performing with instruments. There is also a dog park that I think is so well thought out as it has different sections based on the size of your dog. Teddy would be in doggy heaven if that was our local park (apart from the fact that all the dogs are all dressed up and Ted would have none of that).

The streets that line Harakjuku are made up of various different stores to shop at. Down Takeshita Dori there are cute little themed shops where you can buy costumes and there are also the usual department stores that you will see all over Tokyo. Luckily for me, we found a Marc Jacobs store and I found a perfect handbag that S ended up buying for me. I am very lucky!

Shibuya is similar to Shinjuku, but you will find cute little streets that have little boutique style shops in the. We also found a few designer op-shops that were interesting to have a look through. We didn't spend too much time here as we had been there last year as well and we had seen most of it. It is home to the busiest crossing in the world though which is evident at around lunch time. It reminded me of Newtown/Paddington in Sydney. 

There are plenty of good places to eat lunch and from memory, we found a little Yakiniku place (stirfried beef) and all up for both of us we paid 1200 Yen (about $12.5o) for our meal. I'm not sure if it would be somewhere you could spend a whole day, unless you were set on doing a lot of shopping there. We were only there for about 3 hours but we had been there the year before, so we didn't have as much to see this time. There are quite a few good coffee places around too, if you look hard enough. A nice change, since most places sell the dripolator coffee.

 We found good coffee in Shibuya

Tokyo - A Video

S made another video of our time in Tokyo. A bit longer than the Hakuba one; it encompasses the whole week we spent in Tokyo and all the areas we visited.

Tokyo: Big City from Sven on Vimeo.

Music: 'Lippy Kids' by Elbow