Japan - Tokyo, Ueno, Asakusa

For my Chinese New Year break this year, I visited Daniel in Japan for a week. Danny sent me directions to the train station near his house and met me there. We spent the first few days of my trip walking around Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, and other Tokyo areas.

We had lots of delicious food - Okinawan, Izakaya food, Kushiage, ramen noodles, and sushi. The weather was chilly but sunny my whole trip and it was great being in cleaner air for a week.

We took a trip to Hakone for a couple of days, but I'll write about that in my next post. After returning from Hakone, I spent a couple of days exploring on my own while Danny worked. One day, I went to Uedo and then to Asakusa.

In Uedo, I walked around in a park and visited a shrine.

Next, I took the subway to Asakusa. The first thing I saw after leaving the station was the Asahi brewery building (looks like a frothy glass!) and the golden object on the building next door.

I walked around the shopping street in Asakusa. People-watching, sake tasting, and temple visiting...

After returning from Asakusa, we went to Danny's neighborhood shrine to celebrate Setsubun. People born in the year of the rabbit went on the stage and threw soybeans out for us to catch. Can you spot the back of Danny's head? We ate a bean for each year of our age and then said, "Demons out! Good luck in!" We also ate a special Setsubun sushi roll and drank celebratory sake.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--