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Tokyo Asakusa Images 17 images Created 13 Aug 2009

Asakusa is a district in Taito ward, Tokyo, and is most famous for Sensoji Temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. For many years Asakusa was the major entertainment district in Tokyo but has been surpassed by Shinjuku and Roppongi in its role as a pleasure district. Nowadays it is happy to bask in its retro charm and revel in its colourful festivals.
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  • Hozomon Gate at Sensoji Temple was built in 942 by Taira no Kinmasa. He offered prayers at Senso-ji in hopes of becoming the lord of Tokyo and the surrounding areas, building the gate when his wishes were realized.  Later destroyed repeatedly by fire, the gate was rebuilt again and again. Though the design of the gate remained essentially the same from the end of the 12th century through the beginning of the 17th century, it was refurbished along with the Main Hall by third Edo shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.
    hozomon-gate-1.jpg
  • Asahi Flame Building - Asahi Breweries Building, Asakusa, also known as "Asahi Flame" with reference to the golden figure on top which was actually meant to resemble a flame, rather than a drop of beer.
    asahi-flame-building-3.jpg
  • Himiko water bus was created by Leiji Matsumoto one of Japan's renowned cartoonists and anime artists.  It is a unique boat with a streamlined body and 3D windows. Matsumoto designed it based on the concept of teardrops.  At night the floor panels are lit up and emphasize the ship’s sophisticated design. “Himiko” is named after Queen Himiko who was the first independent woman to be recognized in Japanese history.
    himiko-3.jpg
  • Sensoji is an ancient temple located in Asakusa district of Tokyo and is the city's oldest Buddhist temple. In fact the city of Tokyo grew up around Sensoji and is in the root of its origins.  The centerpiece of Sensoji is the center court, with a giant urn filled with incense.  Japanese direct the  smoke from incense over themselves especially to areas that need healing, like the head for a headache.
    sensoji-2.jpg
  • A yatai is a small, mobile food stall typically selling ramen or oden. The name literally means "shop stand." The stall is set up in the early evening on sidewalks and removed late at night or in the early morning hours. Beer, sake and shochu are usually available. A salaryman might relax with colleagues over dinner and drinks at a yatai on his way home from work. Fukuoka is well known in Japan for keeping the yatai tradition alive.
    yatai-2.jpg
  • Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple and one of its most significant. Formerly associated with the Tendai sect, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is Asakusa Shrine.
    sensoji-10.jpg
  • Bonsai is the art of growing trees in containers. Bonsai is sometimes confused with dwarfing but dwarfing refers to creating plant material that are permanent, genetic miniatures of existing species.
    bonsai-exhibition-01.jpg
  • Yakatabune boats on the Sumida River - "yakatabune asobi" - meaning something like "roofed-boat fun" is a pleasure synonymous with summer in Tokyo. The boats were first used exclusively by aristocrats and samurai from the eighth century but nowadays anyone with the yen can enjoy. They have always been closely associated with Tokyo Bay and the Sumida River as they are today.
    yakatabune-boats-3.jpg
  • Kaminarimon "Thunder Gate" at Sensoji is the outer of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to Sensoji Temple. The gate's most famous feature is the huge red lantern. Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple and one of its most significant. Formerly associated with the Tendai sect, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is  Asakusa Shrine.
    kaminarimon-4.jpg
  • Japanese fisherman along the banks of the Sumida River by Kiyosubashi Bridge.  The Kiyosu Bridge, built in 1928 after the model of the Deutz Suspension Bridge of Cologne, links Kiyosu with Nihonbashi. The Sumida River or Sumida-gawa as it is known in Japanese, is a river which flowing through Tokyo. It branches from the Arakawa River and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. What is now known as the "Sumida River" was previously the path of the Arakawa River, however towards the end of the Meiji period the rivers were diverted from the main flow of the Arakawa to prevent flooding.
    kiyosu-bashi-bridge-4.jpg
  • Sanja Matsuri Mikoshi Bearers - the biggest of Tokyo's traditional 3 grand festivals is held at Asakusa Shrine;  the Sanja festival is a three-day weekend of boisterous traditional mikoshi processions through the streets of Asakusa with plenty of drinking, dancing, music and other revelry. Held by the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo, the huge parade draws over two million people into the streets.  The gold and black lacquer mikoshi are the vehicles of the shrine's kami or deities and the purpose of the processions is to bring luck and prosperity to the areas inhabitants. Many of the mikoshi are so large, heavy and elaborate that dozens of people are required to carry them.
    sanja-matsuri-1.jpg
  • Kaminarimon "Thunder Gate" at Sensoji is the outer of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to Sensoji Temple. The gate's most famous feature is the huge red lantern. Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple and one of its most significant. Formerly associated with the Tendai sect, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is  Asakusa Shrine.
    kaminarimon-5.jpg
  • Kappabashi Basket Shop - Baskets and wickerware shop in Kappabashi, the restaurant and kitchenware district of Asakusa, Tokyo.
    kappabashi-11.jpg
  • Yanaka Rickshaw with Sakura or cherry blossoms overhead - A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura in Japanese.  Japan has a wide variety of cherry blossoms with well over 200 types can be found there.[ The most popular variety of cherry blossom in Japan is the Somei Yoshino. Its flowers are nearly white, tinged with the palest pink, and bloom and fall within a week, before the leaves come out.
    japanese-rickshaw-1.jpg
  • Incense burner at Sensoji i- Tokyo's oldest temple and one of its most significant. Formerly associated with the Tendai sect, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is  Asakusa Shrine.
    sensoji-5.jpg
  • Izakaya and tachinomiya run the gamut from grubby to pristine, seedy to swank. What they all have in common is low priced alcohol and light food. The tachinomiya and her sister, the izakaya, appeared around the beginning of the Edo period. The last decade has seen a tachinomiya revival in Tokyo. New, sparkling clean, nicely appointed shops, purveying drinks and snacks some with stools or beer crates as seats have supplanted the "standing room only" rule of tachinomiya, blurring the lines between tachinomiya (standing bar)  izakaya (bar with seats)
    noren.jpg
  • Tatami originally means "folded and piled" and are a traditional type of Japanese flooring. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core though nowadays sometimes the core is composed of compressed wood chips  or polystyrene foam, with a covering of woven rush straw.  Usually, on the long sides, they have edging  of brocade.
    tatami-maker-02.jpg