Jet lag sucks… Robyn has been up since 4am, and a somewhat restless night for all. Thus we were all up early and went in search of food… not much was open but found our first cherry blossoms by a park, and a bakery next door. Played ‘guess the dish’ four times over for breakfast - basically we each chose one thing and went to sit in the park under cherry blossoms to eat. First was a sort of french toast, another a Japanese version of a brioche bun, the third a tuna mayo flat bread (but looked nothing like that when we chose it!) and the last was a pale white bread roll.
We headed to the Senso-ji temple complex, which consists of a temple, and gates on either side with a praying rock shrine to one side. Hozomon gate - The original gate was built in 942 but was destroyed by fire in 1631 and then again in 1945 in the Tokyo air raids, having stood for over 300 years. The structure seen today was built in 1964. The statues either side of the gate’s southern face are guardians of the Buddha. The other gate at the end of long shopping street is Kaminarimon gate. The Kaminarimon Gate with its giant red lantern is Asakusa’s most famous landmark and meeting spot. The two characters 雷門, which are written in black on the front of the lantern, literally mean “Thunder Gate” and give the Kaminarimon its name.
Praying rock shrine - Kankan Jizo at Zenizuka Jizo pavilion is dedicated to the popular earth-god Jizō and believed to be a source of great monetary luck. It was originally established in the early 18th century by the wife of a samurai, whose children dug up a hoard of Kan’ei Tsūhō coins. She refused to claim the money as her own, however, and she instead made her children re-bury the coins. Today you can tap the one rock with a pebble for good wealth and fortune.
We found a couple of geocaches and one included an exercise in Omikuji. It’s roots are said to have been one of the rituals to hear the words of God in ancient Japan. Omikuji are sacred lots at temples to tell ones fortune. You pay 100YEN, then take a hexagon shaped vessel and shake it, then turn it upside down for a single chop stick to fall out. Match the letters on the chopstick with the hundreds of drawers at the shrine to find your fortune! We did this twice today, and both times had good fortune! The rules are that if its a good fortune, take it home with you, but if its a bad fortune, tie it to the rack and leave it behind. Apparently at the end of each day these bad fortunes are all burned.
Back to our apartment via a convenience store and a fruit pedlar for some basic supplies. Homeschool for a few hours and then friends met with us (Aki and Kiara) and went walk wondering through the neighbourhood of Asakusa.
Kimono dress up experience was great fun together. You get to chose all the bits and got expertly dressed by the ladies at Vasara store.
Then we sampled some delicacies whist browsing the shopping street and ended in a speciality restaurant for Shabu-Shaba dinner. This meal is the Japanese spin on fondue. A large induction hob on the middle of each table, then we selected a Ying-Yang shaped bowl with 2 different broths one light (fish broth) one dark (soya and honey based), and a selection of meats. There is a buffet of noodles, cabbage, mushrooms onions etc. put it all in the pot to cook and enjoy! Oh, there is also ‘dips’ for flavouring when you take the food out of the broth: 1. Soya vinaigrette, 2. raw egg scrambled used as a dip and 3. Sesame cream sauce. It was definitely a very different meal and a new experience. Apparently it’s called Shabu-Shabu as this is the sound the paper thin beef/pork makes as it cooks in the broth whilst you stir it with your chopsticks.
We parted with friends and took a leisurely evening stroll home. Kids were tired, and soon took themselves off to sleep!
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