My original plan was to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, Asakusa, and then Nihonbashi. The last location didn’t happen today. We were tired and it was getting dark by the time we left Asakusa.
We spent quite a few hours at the museum. The museum covers the history of Japan from the beginning of the Edo period to the Tokyo Olympics – a span of about three to four centuries. The models of the estates and town sections are very impressive. Many of the exhibits have English explanations.
We had lunch at the Western (Italian-ish) restaurant attached to the museum. Then we went back to look at, and purchase, souvenirs.
We took the subway to Asakusa where we went through Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate) to Nakamise-dori. This is a street lined with small shops that leads from the gate to a temple complex at its terminal. The shops themselves sell mostly gimmicky, flashy souvenir items that cater to foreign stereotypes of Japan. It was very crowded and many languages could be heard spoken – Japanese, English (both American-English and English-English), Chinese, Korean, etc.
We took the subway from Asakusa, transferred at Akasaka-Mitsuke, and returned to our home station of Ogikubo. Night had fallen by the time we came out of the subway.
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