18. Asakusa and getting lost....

This morning Carolyn was a bit tired so I decided to head off to Asakusa, then to Akihabara and over to Roppongi to meet up with her and her old friend Sanae.
Asakusa is famous for its market and five-storey Pagoda. As you can see, Sunday morning here is a bit like the Vic market on a Saturday morning.

There were plenty of stalls all selling fairly familiar stuff, red bean sweets and souvenirs. Among the more interesting ones were the sandal shop and the one that sold a pair of cakes that well, I think you can figure it out for yourself. I just wonder what young kids might say since they are sitting just on top of the Hello Kitty cakes.


Also being a Sunday morning, there were plenty of people in the temple at the end of the street, the whole religious aspect is interesting. It is certainly more integrated and more pragmatic than a lot of the western religions. Perhaps that is why it is still openly followed without the stigma that can be associated here. The five-storey pagoda is an impressive piece of work, it is a replica built in the 70's but still looks pretty cool.
From here it was to Akihabara to collect my knives and it was about here that I learnt that Japanese maps and street signs, or lack thereof, can make the smoothest trip a bit pear shaped. I ended up getting to Roppongi, about 30 minutes late.