Saturday, April 28, 2018

Travel tips Tokyo Asakusa

Within this bustling, dynamic city with incredible contrasts of chaotic noise of a pachinko parlour, contrasting with the calm of Senso-Ji temple, bustling covered market streets, delicious food, specialty stores, cooking and tourist shops and Owl cafes, Asakusa has it all.




 

A perfect location for me which blended kimono clad visitors to Senso-ji with foot friendly market stalls. It was busy, but without the frenetic pace of Akasaka, hawkers and maid cafes. It blends old with the new,

Its such a great place to hang out where you can catch people visiting the temple, often wearing traditional kimono.  In fact you can actually hire kimonos in the nearby laneways.

On Sundays the pop up food stalls set up shop, so its a great place to hang out.
 
 
 
The laneways have an abundance of stalls ranging from specialty shops which might just specialise in something like brushes, or sweets, or fans, or beautiful hair decorations.  Plus there is the widest range of restaurants from delicious sushi train through to noodle bars, where you pay for your meal from the vending machine out the front of the stand and hand over your ticket to the cook.
Definitely worth mentioning is the Marugoto Nippon which is a food hall of regional specialties, restaurants and handicrafts. Some of the special foodstuffs such as the apple pie or the strawberry cake were delicious.
Asakusa has both covered laneways and outdoor street stalls.  This is an area well visited by tourists, particularly Nakamise which is the shopping street/stalls leading up to Senso-ji. Most people tend to visit during the day, so at nights the streets are not so busy.                                                                                            Other shops that specialise in items for serving, preparing and displaying food can be found close by in Kappabashi Street. A giant chef hangs overhead and in another window knives are sharpened, plastic food models can also be found here.
Kissaten - coffee shop.  Stick to Starbucks if you want a drinkable coffee.  But if its the vibe you are after, there are atmosphere filled cafes with different themes.  This one had a juke box and records.

The coffee is not cheap, its definitely a "brew", this one had bags of character.
 
Then there's the different animal cafes, hedgehogs, cat, owl.  This was something we were curious about but had decided to pass on, as we weren't sure that we felt comfortable with the concept. However we kept on walking pass this café and decided to give it a whirl.

Currently Owl cafes seem to be really popular.  I think its the Harry Potter effect.

So its not really a café, its more a petting place, this one had otters, meerkats and a mink and lots and lots of owls.  Your drink is something from a vending machine. This place was very clean and the people working there seemed to really care about the animals.


Again, not so sure how ethical it is, but I did find it fascinating to be able to pet the owls, (only on the back of the head).

I really don't know what happens after hours, but I hope that these animals get some opportunity to fly around.

 As well as having temples, the Asahi Super Dry Building is just over the river. The golden flame was designed by Philippe Stark.

The complex is built on the banks of the Sumida River and built on the site  where Asahi started brewing beer a century earlier

Worth catching is one of the supermarkets. This is another one with a focus on organic.  The range of sashimi, hot and cold prepared foods, beers, teas are mouthwatering.

I wish I had found it at the beginning of my stay. 

This supermarket was a mini department store which also stocked clothes, stationary, bags and more. Its adjacent to the Asakusa View Hotel which also has a French patisserie and a bar with an amazing view.
 
And finally, one of the most important things, where to stay. We slept at the Wired Hotel, I loved this place.

We had a gorgeous verandah with a view of Senso-ji. Staff were super nice, facilities were great and the café downstairs served really good food.  The pig is ours, but the staff put it in our bed.  Definitely recommended.



 

 

 

Darwin update

For people staying in central Darwin
The Rabbit Hole, on the mall for coffee and food
Para markets Saturday morning a short cab ride. Market food and stalls.

Laneway cafe at Parap - coffee and food

Mr Choo Asian street food (in a more upmarket restaurant form) by the harbour

PM delicious food. Tasting plates have the watermelon and feta salad.

Browns Mart theatre venue.