Okinawa-Tokyo Winter Trip (Tokyo Part 3-The City!)

Day 3 of our Tokyo trip was a shopping day in Shinjuku. Since it was raining all day, we decided to stay there since all department stores are accessible through the wonderful underground walkway system. This was a good opportunity to get our shopping done early in the trip =)

Day 4 of our Tokyo trip was visting a lot of cities : Asakusa, Harajuku, and Shibuya. As if it never rained yesterday, the skies were really clear! Since it was Dan's first time to Tokyo, we wanted to make sure that he sees the most talked about areas.

Asakusa

The home of the famous Sensoji Temple, a Buddhist temple built in the 7th century. As we approach the temple, we come to the first of two large entrance gates. Displayed are the statues of the Shinto gods Fujin (god of wind) and Raijin (god of thunder & lightning). The center red lantern reads "Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate)", the name of this gate.

The "Nakamise" shopping street leads from Kaminarimon to the Sensoji Temple. This shopping street provides visitors with numerous traditional, local snacks and tourist souvenirs. Length of the street is approx 270 yards and has around 89 shops!

The five-story pagoda of Sensoji Temple.

"Horomon" (Treasure House Gate) the second entrance gate to the inner complex. Two identical statues on either side of the gate are the Nio (Guardian deity of the Buddha).

So, when I was living in Japan during my High School years, people have told me that you have a lucky train ticket when the ticket numbers read the same from left to right, and right to left (ex: 1221, 5445, 9119, etc). So, I felt kinda lucky when my ticket number was "6556".

Call me superstitious, but when we pulled our fortune at the temple later that day, we got the Best Fortune!! We were excited, although too bad I couldn't keep my train ticket, but at least I took a photo!

Harajuku

Widely known as the fashion capital for unique street fashion, it was relatively calm that night from the crazy-dressed! What caught our attention that night was Omotensando lite with thousands of Christmas lights along the street.

Shibuya

It wouldn't be a complete Tokyo trip without visiting Shibuya! We were mainly there to see the famous intersection in front of one of Tokyo's busiest railway stations. It's so amazing to see so many people in one area!