2006-04-06, Day 6

Having gotten to bed after 11pm, we didn't get up until 7:30 (actually, Jess didn't lever herself out from under her soft blankie until rather later than that). We got ready and had our pre-breakfast snacks (Jer's nori-rice triangle was a plum, complete with pit; Jess's waffle held no such surprises).

Tummies non-empty, bodies clean, batteries charged, and memory cards empty, we set off walking towards Sensoji temple. We had planned on stopping at Starbucks to finish our breakfast, but before we reached it we happened upon Kohikan, a Japanese coffee shop that trumpeted its charcoal-roasted coffee. Intrigued, we headed in and ordered a cup, along with a tuna sandwich (heavy on the mayo, as with all Japanese sandwiches thus far) for Jer, and bright yellow french toast for Jess. Jess' toast had no mayo, only slightly more egg, and a large quantity of a sweet, whipped, oddly-flavored cream-butter substance. The coffee was overly roasted and rather evocative of coal, but strangely good.

From there, we headed off towards the temple. On the way, ran into a couple mounted police and joined the throng of Japanese people taking pictures. We also located a ¥100 store and a stoneware shop to check out on the way back. Finally we arrived at the outer temple gate. The road from the outer gate to the inner gate (Nakamise Shopping St.) is lined on both sides with tiny shops selling delightful schlock and snacks. On the way in and out, we managed to sample some delicious hot ginger cider, crispy fried rice-sesame snacks, cherry-blossom candy, and a sembei — a flat crispy rice flour cracker. We also purchased a variety of gifts.

The temple itself was large and bustling with worshippers and tourists. It had an incredibly ornate golden altar, covered in flowers and statues. It also had a fortune-telling area, where people shook a cylinder until a paper came out, then matched the number on the paper to a drawer, which contained a fortune. We did not get fortunes, as the guidebook indicated that the English translations given are inscrutable. Though the main temple was impressive, we were most struck by one of the smaller side temples, which had an air of stillness and earnest worshippers chanting before the altar.

Sadly, the Demboin Garden (attached to the temple's monastery) was closed, so we peeked in the gate — it looked very serene — so we headed back down Nakamise Shopping Street and out into Asakusa to find lunch. We headed over to Aoi Marushin, a tempura place recommended by one of the guidebooks. Jer had the big prawn ten-don (shrimp and veggie tempura over rice), and Jess had the mixed tempura (shrimp, fish and veggie tempura, without rice). Both were good, but Jess's was crispier.

After lunch we stocked up in the ¥100 yen shop (where everything from chopsticks to underwear to tools can be had for ¥105 (including tax)). We bought drinks and a few souvenirs, before heading to the stoneware shop, which had some lovely items, but rather high prices. Since we were right near our ryokan, we popped in to drop off our purchases, then headed over to nearby Kappabashi Kitchenware Town. This is the restaurant supply neighborhood, and we browsed through shops selling bamboo strainers, cake pans, stoneware (we bought a bit), chef and waitstaff apparel, etc. The area is best known of its plastic food, and we saw some impressive examples (a whole crab, a cut head of lettuce showing the individual leaves, etc).

From there, we walked to Okachimachi station (three stops from where we were), following the excellent street signs. The Okachimachi neighborhood was a display of slightly intimidating consumerism, Ameyoko, a narrow street under the subway tracks packed with teens and twenty-somethings browsing jackets, shoes and other trendy wares, or stopping off in bars or coffee shops to refuel.

Eventually we located Okachimachi station, where we caught the subway to Tochomae. This was not as straightforward as it seemed, as there are subway lines run by two companies — we bought tickets for the wrong one, but a friendly guard refunded our money and pointed us toward the right ticket machine.

At Tochomae, we went into the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices and took the elevator to the free observatory on the 45th floor. The views of Tokyo were impressive, with buildings pretty much as far as the eye could see, but sadly it was too hazy to see Mt. Fuji (though we could make out the mountain ridge in front of it). The observatory has a toy store in the middle of it, so we browsed the monchichi, toy cars, robotic fish, and other goofy delights. Jer insisted that we get our photos taken in the photo booth, which we did. It was hilarious, as we couldn't understand the instructions and had to guess what to do. It turned out, though!

From the observatory, we decided to head to dinner. After browsing the restaurant floors in the nearby NS Building, we took the subway to nearby Roppongi (a trendy nightlife district). While wandering around, Jer was approached by barker soliciting customers for a gentleman's club, but when the guy saw Jess he backed off. The area was definitely trendy, with expensive boutiques and tons of restaurants, but we preferred the quirkiness of Okachimachi.

Wandering around Roppongi, we were in search of wacky Japanese pizza, but we miscalculated our need for food. By the time we found a restaurant, we were half-dead. The place we picked was a bit too authentic to have really Japanese pizza, but Jer had the pesto, seafood and cheese pizza (which was surprisingly tasty, and even the squid and scallops were perfectly cooked and not rubbery), while Jess had the pasta of the day, penne with a delicious lamb ragout. We spent a bit of time speculating about the lamb (are there sheep in Japan, or do they import meat from somewhere like NZ?), then dragged ourselves back into the subway. After stopping at AM PM for more pre-breakfast and the vending machine for a drink (Vitaene C, which tastes like Pepto Bismol mixed with Irn-Bru), we headed to our ryokan and straight to bed.