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Travel notesA little of each town’s storyKaminarimon and Nakamise at Senso-ji

A little of each town’s story

Taito, Tokyo

Kaminarimon and Nakamise at Senso-ji

From: An Asakusa food diary that begins at an old coffee house

Kaminarimon's great lantern and a guardian statue
Kaminarimon's great lantern and a guardian statue

Kaminarimon is the main gate of Senso-ji; its formal name, Furaijin-mon, comes from the statues of the wind god and the thunder god enshrined on either side. Its great lantern is 3.9 meters tall, 3.3 meters wide and weighs about 700 kilograms. For about 250 meters from Kaminarimon to Hozomon Gate, red-painted shops line both sides of the approach: this is Nakamise, said to date back to around 1685.

Sources: senso-ji.jp senso-ji.jp

This moment in the journey

A morning with the Skytree in view

Standing at the window, I found the Tokyo Skytree right in front of me. I'm staying in Asakusa, one of Tokyo's best-known sights, and a town I often came to when I used to live in Tokyo. This time my theme is Asakusa's local food, and I want to enjoy living here for a while.

The Skytree peeks out everywhere: beyond the power lines, between buildings with spiral staircases, across the Sumida River. I walked under the hanging signs of a covered sidewalk, past a tempura shop's sign, and on to Kaminarimon. At this hour there were still few tourists under the great lantern or along Nakamise, its shutters still down.

Beyond an arcade the Skytree stood hazy in the distance, and a rickshaw rolled along the morning street. The morning of an ordinary Tokyo neighborhood and the air of a tourist town intersect here. It's like seeing the Skytree from a back alley.

Watch this scene on YouTube0:24

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Standing at the window, the Skytree right outside
Standing at the window, the Skytree right outside
The Skytree seen past the window frame
The Skytree seen past the window frame
The Skytree rising beyond power lines and buildings
The Skytree rising beyond power lines and buildings
The Skytree peeking between buildings with a spiral staircase
The Skytree peeking between buildings with a spiral staircase
Buildings and the Skytree across the Sumida River
Buildings and the Skytree across the Sumida River
Walking along a covered sidewalk hung with signs
Walking along a covered sidewalk hung with signs
Passing the sign of Tempura Sansada
Passing the sign of Tempura Sansada
Nakamise in the morning, leading to Hozomon Gate
Nakamise in the morning, leading to Hozomon Gate

More notes from this journey

More notes from Kanto

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