Wednesday, July 03, 2002
Not much news from the past couple of weeks - we've been trying to stay cool, eating plenty of rice and drinking plenty of sours, doing some shopping at the Y100 stores and continuing to get used to our students...
On Monday we went to Asakusa, a very touristy and historical part of Tokyo. Some very large and unusual temples, and fascinating shopping streets selling food mostly (no surprise really!). There are also some huge temple gates, the most famous being Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) which has a 10ft high red paper lantern hanging from it. If you stray outside the main tourist drag, there are some really interesting old run-down streets, and a small theme part, which boasts the oldest steel rollercoaster in the world.
We decided not to risk our lives this week...
Tracked down (when I say that I'm descrbing the usual process of finding something in Tokyo when all you have is an address and an incorrect/non-existent map:go to the rough area near the nearest subway station, and start walking in circles hoping to find some pattern in the numbered blocks, before realising you've strayed to completely the wrong area, retracing your steps and eventually randomly stumbling on what you want just a few yards from where you originally started - it takes on average about 30-40 minutes, but somehow makes it more satisfying) a really nice cafe/bar. It's housed in an old wooden warehouse building, from 1868 (!!) which somehow survied the earthquake and fires, and the bombing of WWII. The woman who owns it with her sisters let us have a private tour of the gallery where they were setting up the next show, after we had had our coffee and cake (something they do really well in Tokyo). We'll be back there soon...see http://www.tctv.ne.jp/get2-ef/e-index.htm for more including a photograph from 1945 showing the building standing, with not much else surviving around it.
OK, I'm off into the wet oven of Ichikawa. I promise I'll write again soon!!!
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