The degree to which JR trains are crowded makes the New York subway
system look like a joke. Apparently, the Japanese have a much tighter concept
of personal space than Americans - a train packed that tight in New York
would be a string of fistfights on the verge of exploding.
Asakusa was only about 4 stops to the east, so it was a quick ride.
My plan was to do the Fodors walking tour, which starts at the tourist
bureau. Several maps and suggestions richer, I headed across the street
to the Kaminarimon Gate (note tourists in rickshaw in photo). I didn't
really know what to expect with the shrines - there was some worshipping
going on at the shrines themselves, but most of the action was at the perhaps
50-100 little shops beyond the gate. Lost of food and candy, toys, trinkets,
fans, sculpture, all sorts of stuff. One open area was populated by hundreds
of blatantly aggressive pigeons. There was even a statue dedicated to them.
For 10 Yen (about eight cents), you could buy a handful of pigeon food,
and after seeing a few schoolgirls feeding them, I motioned for one of
them to take my photo, and gave it a try myself.
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After wandering off the beaten track for a while, I worked my way down to Asakusa's restaurant supply district, marked by the 30-foot-tall plastic chef's head. You can buy everything you need to open a Japanese restaurant here, from king-sized rice cookers to fancy holders for menus, to 'Table Reserved' signs to four million BTU wok burners. And plastic food. One of the things that makes it possible for foreigners to eat in this country is that restaurants tend to have windows containing plastic renditions of items on the menu, making it easier to make a selection. Well, it stands to reason that restaurant owners have to *buy* this stuff somewhere. There were perhaps half a dozen of these merchants; I captured a photo of the typical selection available, and purchased a sushi souvenir.
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Well, by now, with about 5 miles covered, my feet were killing me, so
I decided to take the boat ride down the Sumida river suggest by the tourist
bureau, taking a few photos as we motored downstream. The sculpture shown
on top of the building in the background that looks like a turnip wasdescribed
as a flame, symbolizing the heart. I dunno... to me it looked like a turnip.
Kind of interesting, though, nonetheless. The boat provided two decks,
an upper one outside, with nice views and sunshine, and a protected one
below, where the fit and finish of the benches plus their orientation conspired
to make it look like a church.
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The ride lasted about 40 minutes, working its way down to the Hamarikyu Garden, formerly a duck hunting preserve for royalty, and now a park.
Well, by now my feet were aching even more, so I struggled to the local
JR station, took the train 4 stops back up to Uneo, and exited for the
ryokan. Check-in was... interesting. I filled out a 'stay card', and was
escorted up to my room. Everything was pretty much as expected - a tiny
room (I estimate 10 x 12, the floor lined with tatami mats, a futon in
the corner, and a foot-high table in the center. Two accessories that *did*
surprise me were the phone and TV. The TV was equipped with a coin slot
- 100 yen for some unknown number of minutes. The room was essentially
featureless again, as I expected.
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When I arrived, the proprietress asked 'shower'? I tried to indicate
that I might want to take one tonight, and tried to get her to show me
where it was; she pointed at a staircase across from my room (I'm on the
third floor). Next thing I know, the phone is ringing and she's saying
'shower ready'. Rather than disappoint, I headed down the stairs to take
my shower. Later, I realized that this pretty much locked me into the room
for the evening, unless I wanted to get dressed again. But given the state
of my feet, as well as my usual propensity to "tour 'till I drop", plus
the fact that I fell asleep while typing this journal, cutting the night
short was probably a good idea.
