Japan Traveler's Companion - Rob Goss

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of Asakusa is Ueno, another vibrant shitamachi district. In spring, Ueno Park is one of the liveliest places in Japan to take in the annual front of pink cherry blossoms, with picnickers and partiers filling the park from morning to night during the blossoms’ fleeting visit. Besides that, alongside a zoo (if that’s your thing), Toshogu shrine, and a lily-covered lake around which food stalls often set up, Ueno boasts an impressive collection of museums, including the magnificent collection at Tokyo National Museum, which covers everything from priceless seventh-and eighth-century artifacts from Horyuji Temple in Nara to armor, ceramics, screen paintings, and tea utensils. Quite different in its focus, another museum well worth the admission is the Shitamachi Museum, which brings old Tokyo to life with exhibits that include a reconstruction of a cramped 1920s tenement row. In the now, the shitamachi vibe in Ueno is best felt in and around the Ameya Yokocho Market, a long street full of fish and vegetable stalls, budget clothing and accessories, teas and dried foods, which starts across the road from Ueno Station and follows the elevated train lines, merging and connecting with more backstreets that reveal a slew of cheap eateries and tachinomiya (standing bars)—the perfect place to grab a bite and a drink and mix with normal Tokyoites.

      Look east over the Sumida River from Asakusa and you get to see one of Tokyo’s most distinctive views; the combination of the 2,080-foot (634-meter) Tokyo Skytree tower, the world’s second tallest structure when finished in 2012, and the older head offices of Asahi Breweries, where one building is designed to look like a frothy glass of beer and the other has odd-looking “flames” built onto it that have earned it the unfortunate nickname unchi biru (turd building). From this part of Asakusa, you can also get a different view of Tokyo with a boat trip, heading down the Sumida River to the Hamarikyu Gardens or nearby Tsukiji Market (page 31) or further to Odaiba.

      On the way south the boat passes (but doesn’t stop at) Ryogoku, home to Japan’s main sumo stadium, the Kokugikan, which hosts three fifteen-day tournaments annually (in January, May and September). This being the center of Japan’s sumo world, you’ll also find many sumo stables here and in neighboring areas (some of which can be visited as parts of organized tours), as well as numerous restaurants specializing in chanko nabe, the substantial hot pot eaten by sumo wrestlers to maintain their famous bulk.

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      Nakamise-dori is the street that runs between Sensoji Temple’s two towering gates, delivering a colorful mix of touristy souvenirs, moreish snacks and the occasional local craft.

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      Girls in patterned kimono in front of the Hozomon Gate and its iconic red lantern.

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      New and old merge In Asakusa’s skyline, with Sensoji Temple’s ancient five-level pagoda and the spanking new Tokyo Skytree tower.

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      Sensoji Temple’s pagoda and the massive Hozomon Gate.

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      You won’t see a local in one, but rickshaws can be a fun way to see the sights.

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      A vendor selling manju, a kind of sweet bun filled with things like red-bean paste.

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      Tokyo National Museum.

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      Ueno Park is one of Tokyo’s most popular cherry blossom party spots.

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      Ameya Yokocho Market, commonly called Ameyoko, began as an army-surplus flea market during the postwar American occupation.

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      Tokyo Skytree and one of Tokyo’s oddest buildings, the Philippe Starck-designed offices for the beer brewer Asahi. As well as being part of a complex that includes restaurants, shops and even an aquarium, the Skytree’s observation decks provide by far the best panoramic views of Tokyo.

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      Chanko nabe, consisting of a dashi or chicken-broth soup base, large amounts of protein and served with rice, is a staple food eaten by sumo wrestlers.

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      Top-ranked sumo wrestlers parade on the dohyo (ring) prior to the day’s main bouts. You can get tickets for as little as ¥2,260 for what is a very unique spectacle.

      AKIHABARA

      Tokyo’s Geekiest Neighborhood

      Akihabara in northeast Tokyo is geek land—a home for cosplayers, comic fans, anime lovers, Godzilla figurine collectors, retro arcade game addicts, and many others who proudly call themselves otaku. In one word, you can call it colorful. With a few more words—add techy, vibrant and frequently bizarre.

      Akiba, as it’s known for short, started to attract otaku (geeks) in the late 1980s as part of the video game boom, and gaming is still big in the area, with a mix of retro and high-tech “game centers” (arcades) as well as stores like Retro Game Camp and Traders that have every conceivable kind of PC and console game available. Then came the anime and manga. Most obviously you can see this out in the streets, where it’s common to see otaku cosplayers dressed up as their favorite characters from anime, manga or video games—but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Start window shopping along Akiba’s main street, Chuo-dori, and it’s soon obvious just how otaku-saturated Akiba has become, not just with popular anime and manga stores like Animate and Mandrake, but with places like the multi-floor Don Quixote, Gee Store Akiba and plenty of other smaller shops selling cosplay outfits, model kits, trading cards, and all manner of other geeky gear. And no conversation about otaku can forget maid cafés, where young, doe-eyed waitresses in frilly French-maid outfits serve customers with huge doses of sickly sweet cuteness.

      What about Akihabara before the otaku arrived? Then it was all about electronics, something that has its roots in post-war black-market trading of radio parts and has over the years morphed into a real mishmash of stores, from cramped backstreet electrical components and used computer stores like the numerous branches of Sofmap to robot specialists such as Tsukumo Robot Kingdom and giant home electronic megastores like Akky, Ishimaru Denki, Laox and the massive Yodobashi camera megastore on Akihabara Station’s east side.

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      A maid from one of Akiba’s maid cafés. You’ll often see them in the streets advertising their stores. At work, besides serving food and drink and fawning over customers, for a small fee the maids will also play games like janken (rock, paper, scissors). And it’s not just geared to geeky young men; women go, too—there are even butler cafés around just for them.

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      Chuo-dori is Akihabara’s main street, full of home-electronics stores, game arcades, comic shops, and other outlets aimed firmly at Japan’s computer-, anime-, and manga-loving otaku.

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