Tokyo - old & new

Tales from our trip to Tokyo, Australia, New-Zealand & Singapore

Tokyo - city of lights and color
Tokyo - <3 SUMO
Tokyo - old & new

In Tokyo the old and the new live side by side. A good example is that next to Tokyo's buzziest area Shibya is Yoyogi Park where Tokyo's oldest temple, Sensoji, is situated. It's handy to combine these places in see them during the same day as they are so close to each other. Sensoji. (浅草寺, Sensōji, also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple) is a Buddhist temple and is one of Tokyo's most colorful and popular temples. There time stands still and everything is calm. Meanwhile back in the heart of Shibya it is busy and quite hectic with all the traffic and lights and shops and people. Next to Shibya station there is a famous crossing of streets called 

Shibuya Crossing.

It would be a shame to go to Tokyo and not take a walk across the famous intersection outside Shibuya Station. When the lights turn 

red at this busy junction, they all turn red at the same time in every direction which means that cars and other traffic stop completely and pedestrians surge into the intersection from all directions, like marbles spilling out of a box. Other than that Shibya is packed with stores and restaurants, and boutiques. 

When we went to Shibya and Sensoji and Asakusa it was the day after the snow fall. It was hilarious to watch how they handled the situation after that much snow. In front of banks and such local Sararīman ("Salarymen") shuffled snow away from their doorsteps with their black suits and shiny shoes on. In the temple area they used funny old wood carriages and made big snow piles and placed them in the sun. Everyone took care of their own area. There seemed to be no public service for cleaning out the snow. 

We also saw the area of Asakusa which is where an atmosphere of the old Tokyo survives. Asakusa's main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century. We mainly tried not to fall as it was so slippery after the snowfall and were in awe of all the people going there and doing their religious routines.