Asakusa

Asakusa is a popular tourist location for foreign and Japanese alike. Too popular in fact, especially as the number of foreign tourists has increased by a factor of 10 in the last decade. However, there are still plenty of things to see and do (and eat) locally, and even the tourist filled Sensoji is worth going to visit; just keep your expectations down and limit the time there.

Below is a map of Asakusa area with the major places to visit.

• Sensouji is the tourist over-run temple, which people generally enter from the Lightning Gate and walk down Nakamise Street. However, you can walk in from any direction as no side is closed off.
• Shin-Nakamise (red line) street is a covered outside shopping street with a lot of restaurants and shops selling more up-market Japanese goods compared to the general souvenirs in Nakamise Street itself. Worth a walk down although “When Japan” has other places recommended for eating.
• Eat a Tendon rice bowl at Daikokuya (map). We recommend the Ebi-Ten-don (fried shrimp with rice). The atmosphere is great and the old ladies serving upstairs no zero English and don’t pretend otherwise. The menu is also not in English however you can use their website to help (they may have an English menu – “When Japan” can’t remember.
• Eat Grilled Sea Eel at Wadahei (map). They don’t seem to have an English website and the restaurant is very small and always crowded. If you fail to get in due to lines or your group is too large, then there are plenty of other places locally you can try. Asakusa is known for good grilled eel so you don’t find a bad location, as long as you stick to places with around 4 stars or more on Google Maps.
• Walk along Sumida Park and take in the view of the Sky Tree. The park is lined with Sakura Cherry Blossoms during April and there is a boat ride you can take should you feel like it (tickets can be bought in the building right by the main bridge (opposite the golden poo).
• There are plenty of local Izakaya style Japanese pubs close to the temple that are popular with locals and tourists. They all tout the low prices of the beer and you can sit outside on a nice day.
• The big green area in the center of the map below is off-limits. Apparently it is an amazing garden that is only open once a year in early spring.
• There is an old amusement park next to the temple complex that is very popular. “When Japan” has never been so can’t comment.
• Pop by Yōrōdō, which is one of Tokyo’s oldest record shops (opening in 1912 is now sells CDs) and has a special stage on the 2nd floor where all the big names in Japanese Enka and old-time popular music perform when they have a new single to promote. Usually you get a show for the cost of their new CD. If you feel brave, head on up when they have an event.

Asakusa is probably a good half day trip if you set out early in the morning. “When Japan” recommends eating either the Tendon or the Sea Eel there for lunch and then moving on afterwards. The Tokyo Sky Tree is a short 20 minute walk away after visiting the Sumida Park. You can stare up at the tower, commit to not wasting your money going up it (go to the Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Tower instead), and then head elsewhere from the nearby train station.

You can also walk to Ueno Station in less than 30 minutes. This route is particularly recommended as you will walk past all the food sample shops that you will no doubt see outside all the restaurants, wondering “where do they get those?”. Answer, where you will walk past if you take the route below.