I got up late, around 10. I really needed the sleep. We planned to meet a friend of a friend, Yuichiro san, at 11. We got ready and dashed out in search of breakfast first. In order to save time that would have been spent hunting for a suitable restaurant, we elected to grab breakfast from a local supermarket. I love hunting in foreign supermarkets, you never know what you'll find, like maybe it'll be crepe ice creams, maybe it'll be sake in a carton, or maybe it'll be what we actually ended up eating which are these lovely, greasy, tempura thingies.

mmm.... tempurary......

We headed back to the hostel and waited for Yuichiro. When he arrived he brought a friend whose name I cannot quite remember (kotomatsu I think?), which I feel a little bad for but which makes sense because he doesn't speak much English, so Yuichiro was our translator. Yuichiro, however, assured us of kotomatsu's expert knowledge of the area, something for which I am now grateful since our first stop was the Edo-shitamachi traditional museum just around the corner (Ed & I had managed to walk right past it before without notice). Inside we found impressive examples of woodwork, metalwork, textiles and paintings. I especially liked the banner of Tokugawa:

Emblem of the Tokugawa clan.

and these wooden dragons were pretty cool too.

"grrrrrr! keep out or we'll eat you!" is what I like to imagine them saying.

After we were done at the museum we strolled around Sensoji Temple by a number of shops and ended up at a restaurant which was half outdoors and covered by a marquee. Inside there were mostly tables and stools, but there was also a small veranda with three short Japanese style tables and some tatami mats. We sat at one of these tables and after perusing the menu written entirely in kanji our Japanese friends chose beers and food for us all. Soon afterwards the hostess managed to find an English menu, and we learned that the main component of our lunch was going to be "Cow Line Soup" (if you can't figure out what this is ask someone with an imagination). We were also served with small dishes of a cold and tangy food I was assured contained mackerel. Lastly I had persuaded Yuichiro to order something else: Takoyaki! if you don't know what this is I'm not sure descriptions really do it justice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki this wiki page however does a good job.

After we left we made our way towards the Asakusa tourist information centre and picked up some leaflets. The place was spacious and had a large wooden floor. The building was on eight floors and had free wifi & charging stations, a cafe, and exhibition space. In the exhibition space they were mainly plugging the new Tokyo Sky Tree, but either it hasn't yet opened to the public, or it's hard to get tickets or something, so this wasn't of much interest to me.

We headed through the enduring rain towards Kappabashi. If you don't know, this place is famous for selling to restaurants. This means shops full of bowls, plates, kettles, etc. and most importantly THIS STUFF:

These are called "samples".... (but I already know what spaghetti bolognese is supposed to look like!)

Yup, it's plastic food. Some restaurants put these replicas out front so that you know what you're ordering. Makes a lot of sense if you can't read the menu, or if you want to permanently display your food out front. Unfortunately while the sample Japanese foods tend to look great (plastic rice balls and gyoza are pretty believable), the sample western foods don't seem to work that well.

Moving on past endless shops (some with amusing names like "freshness burger", "mister doughnut", and "sugar butter shop") we caught a local bus to Ueno park area. It was still tipping it down so we didn't go into the park, but we made a stop at an izakaya. The place was directly under the railway line so I was periodically surprised when a sound like the rumbling of thunder turned into the sound of a train. Again our Japanese friends ordered for us. When asked Yuichiro told us that it would be like a kind of beef stew. Shortly after Ed's first bite, Yuichiro revise his position. Did I say beef? I meant horse. We also had a side of yakitori, which is quickly becoming a favourite dish of mine (I guess cooked meat on a stick works well in any country). The atmosphere at the izakaya was great; an endless stream of people coming and going framed with the railway line, and backlit by the pouring rain. It was a kind of enjoyable chaos which we were contextually isolated from. Before we left, Yuichiro's friend gave us a brief eduction on some of the ritualistic elements of Sumo (after winning the bout but before receiving the prize money a sumo wrestler seems to draw the kanji for money 'okane' with his hand).

Given the weather, Yuichiro revised our plan. Next stop: Akihabara! This time we took a train, and on the carriage I saw an advertisement for the aforementioned crepe ice creams:

Her smile seems to say "even in the Edo period we enjoyed Crepe Glace"

We got to akihabara, and my headache which had been gaining ground most of the day was really starting to pound. Just outside the station we were confronted with the Yodobashi building, a wall of concrete which stands 8 floors tall and houses untold quantities of electronic goods. we went straight to the 6th floor marked 'toys/games/dvds'. After checking out a suitcase/scooter and a travel device for washing, shall we say, an intimate area, we went to look at the games and anime figurines. I was greatly amused by some of the PSP games on main display. The title of the first one I saw was:

Boku wa tomodachi ga sukunai

which roughly translates to:

'I don't have many friends'

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai). The second I looked at was called:

Conception: Ore no Kodomo wo Undekure!

meaning (as if you haven't guessed):

'Conception: please give birth to my child'

, and seems to be about convincing girls/women to have your baby. Oh, and also you kill monsters with a ninja sword or something (check it out it looks fun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conception:_Ore_no_Kodomo_wo_Undekure!).

After this my headache was getting unbearable (I guess I'm still jet lagged) and I was pretty tired so we had to bid our Japanese friends farewell and head back to the hostel for some rest. After a nap it was getting pretty late and we decided to make a repeat trip to Sensoji temple (which is really close!) to see what it looks like lit up.

I have to say that the place has an incredible aura at night. It's huge and imposing. the slanted roofs protect the entrances from the rain but also create a foreboding mood in the darkness. The rain collects in giant metal gutters and sloshes into the giant green upturned bowls with swastikas on. A few people scurry through. One old lady came to pray at an adjacent shrine. The scale and perspective of the monument is just perfect, and though the building was reconstructed after WW2 and is immaculately preserved and protected (under close inspection it houses cctv cameras), the modernizations somehow do not diminish the atmosphere. Even in the pouring rain the air carries the faintest scent of the incense burnt earlier that day, and the fact that the temple is still in use makes it much greater than just a relic.

The front of the main building at Sensoji Temple

Inside the temple grounds

Ed standing directly under a gutter :-)

How does this umbrella work?

Anyway, there was plenty for Ed to be snap happy about today, and with so many great photos I've had to try to be a little ruthless with my decisions. If he keeps this up I'll be able to have my own version of kim jong ill's very famous tumblr page (http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/).

Bonus Shashin!