Asakusa and the rest of Shitamachi are some of the greatest wandering areas, period. These are the old working class and crafts districts going back to before Tokyo was Tokyo. The warrens of alleys and malls filled with a mixture of traditional goods and kitch intended for tourists (domestic and not) make for a lot of interesting scenes.
The thing we really noticed right now was the lack of foreign tourists who usually crowd Kaminarimon and Nakamise Dori (the big lantern and the shopping street behind it). Today there were a LOT of school tours, which may help some. It is amazing to see
The side streets, especially closer to the temple, are filled with stores dedicated to traditional crafts, particularly those things involved with kimonos and Buddhist offerings. When they are closed, which many where when we walked through - opening times/days vary due to Covid concerns and lack of tourists - they have images on their shutter doors which are art forms of their own. They generally depict an old Edo scene focused on their products. This shot is from a shop Jeff knows well - YONOYA, a centuries old wooden comb maker; not just combs for pulling through what hair you may have, but for holding in place many of the hairstyles that go with women in kimonos. I have to say we were pleasantly surprised to see they still exist.
Some of the traditional crafts have adjusted their product focus. With long swords not so much in favor, the traditional swordsmith turns to much shorter implements of slicing-and-dicing.
There are more modern eye-catching things as well. Take this Japan Post Box, please...
The orange blob on top is one of their mascots to promote letter writing. Works for me :-)
One stop is the Taito-ku (the borough Asakusa is in) Visitor Information Center. They used to be famous for a clock with kimono-clad characters marking the hours, but they seem to be retired at the moment with the parts displayed inside. The top floor does give one of the best views of the are:
Comments
Post a Comment