Tokyo Tower and Asakusa

Another update from last week! Last Wednesday after the sushi-making event, my boyfriend and I ventured over to Tokyo Tower to check out the view at night. It was amazing!  Tokyo Tower is the second  tallest "artificial structure" in Japan -- it's not technically a building so they designate it with that fancy name. Its design is based on the Eiffel tower and it's equally as romantic. The main observatory is two floors with lots of window views and also a cool "club" with a space for a band to play live music. You can take the stairs up, but we got there pretty close to closing and after a long day so we made for the elevator. The city was beautiful to behold, but a lot of lights in Tokyo are still being used sparingly to conserve electricity. Still, it was amazing to see how far the city stretched!

The tower!

Views from the top~

Love this city

Last Thursday, it was hot hot hot in Tokyo. Still, we couldn't let that slow us down from the day we planned. I went to Japanese class and then took the rest of the afternoon off, and we ventured to historic Asakusa to see Sensoji, a famous Buddhist temple. Upon exiting the subway station we were accosted in our momentary state of disorientation by hopeful rickshaw drivers, and we actually ended up giving to their sales strategy. But, it was a great decision as we got an excellent 30 minute tour of the area riding in a traditional-style Japanese rickshaw being pulled by a Japanese man with giant calves. He gave us a lot of interesting information about the city and pointed out important landmarks and buildings. He also took a lot of great pictures for us, which was a nice change from having to stumble over my Japanese to ask people to take a picture and then having it turn out cattywampus.  I'm not sure how he dealt with pulling us in the heat, but he was only sweating about the same amount I sweat just walking around. Gotta love their genes.

Chillin in the rickshaw with our wonderful driver!

Outside a restaurant in the geisha district

Two words: Let. Muscles.

Sensoji's main temple!

Our tour ended at Sensoji and then we were able to walk around the complex. It was really beautiful. I visited it with my family in 2008 and it was great to see it again -- it's Tokyo's oldest temple and is a must-see for any visit to Japan. We took advantage of the overabundance of souvenir stalls and got a lot of gift buying out of the way. We had a great time walking around, but were ultimately glad to get out of the sun after an hour or two.  That night we went to a birthday dinner with a group of my friends, and then after I showed him the world-renowned Shibuya crossing (seriously click the link and watch that video). It's so entrancing to sit in the Starbucks that overlooks the intersection and watch the (literally) thousands of people that cross in (literally) eight different directions every time the light changes~ I'm glad I don't have to commute through their every day!

Coming soon (/eventually) are posts about Kamakura, Nagano, Matsumoto, and then this past week... stay tuned!