Japan Day 6 & 7: Asakusa and Japanese traditional cultural icons

​We spent the last two days exploring the Asakusa neighborhood and other important cultural features of Japan found only in Tokyo.

The morning started off with a big parade in front of the hotel. There was a huge crowd on the sidewalks and in the street. Police were blocking off two lanes to accommodate the people carrying the Shinto shrine, the carved and painted cart carrying the drummers and the flute player, and all the others with their colorful ceremonial robes cheering them on.  And this was not the only parade we saw.  It was so cool to see so many of the portable temples carried around the streets. The parades are part of a three day festival where community groups take small shrines around in their neighborhoods to bring the spirits to the people where they live and then return the shrines to the temple area.

The main activity of the day featured sumo wrestling. We started with a visit to the Sumo Arena, where a quarterly tournament was underway. Before we went in to see a replica of an arena, we spent half an hour watching huge men in kimonos walk into and out of the arena. Some looked rather forbidding, but many were willing to stop and chat with fans, give autographs  and have their pictures taken. Our tour leader, Makiko, is a big fan, and she was very excited to see some of her favorites She stopped one to get an autograph and another to pose for pictures with us. 

Then we went to a “sumo experience” which was a delightful hour with two retired wrestlers who demonstrated different moves and some of the intensive training exercises. They also demonstrated a typical fight, with the 274 pound loser ending very close to landing in the lap of one of our group. Then  they showed some videos of wrestling bouts which typically last less than a minute. Not all of the wrestlers are huge, and smaller ones often win. We took turns trying to move one of them but he just stood there like a tree.  We ate the traditional sumo lunch, a meat and vegetable soup and rice balls. After lunch we spent another hour with one of the men, normally dressed at this point, asking questions and learning about how he became a wrestler, how he rose through the ranks and many aspects of his life.  So interesting!

Next we headed across town to the Meiji Shinto Temple.  The forest around the temple was planted 200 years ago when the Meiji emperor opened up Japan after the 200 years of Edo rule that kept the country completely isolated.  The emperor and his wife both enjoyed writing poetry, so we learned a little bit about that, and got our fortunes told in verse (sort of).

In the evening, after a huge meal at an Isakaya restaurant, we went to the 8th floor of a nearby building to see the view of the Senso-Ji temple - the Shinto shrine that was the home for the festival we had been watching for two days.  It was lovely to see the complex at night, including the Buddhist temple and pagoda next to the Shinto Shrine.

This morning we got up before 6 am so we could go back to the Buddhist Shrine and listen to the monks chanting.  We thoroughly enjoyed the temple in the early morning when it was quiet and peaceful.  Then we went back to our room for a nap.

Later in the morning, we walked down the street to a Drumming Center. A charming 25 year old professional drummer explained how the drums are made and how they are played. Then she performed an amazing drum session, using three drums. Then she led us all in learning to play a piece.  It was super fun.  The Center had an amazing store of traditional crafts downstairs, so we hung out there until it was time for lunch.  We all went together to eat at a traditional restaurant near the hotel.  It was delicious, and fun!

Afterwards we visited the nearby “kitchen street,” with shop after shop stuffed with every imaginable kind of kitchen equipment, including several knife shops. Later in the afternoon  we went back to the temple to check out “the oldest shopping street in Japan”.  Mom found the dolls she was looking for, and then we had ice cream!

Eventually we made our way to the Tokyo Sky Tree - the tallest building in Japan.  We had tickets for 7, but ended up getting there about 20 minutes early, so we reached the top just after sunset and got to see all the lights of the HUGE city come on.  We had to fight crowds to get out, but it was all worth it in the end.  Another busy,  satisfying day.