A G: Japan Day 4 - Tokyo by Aaron, Senso-ji 浅草寺, Ueno Park 上野公园, Tokyo Tower 东京

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Japan Day 4 - Tokyo by Aaron, Senso-ji 浅草寺, Ueno Park 上野公园, Tokyo Tower 东京

Tokyo

~Aaron

Japan day 4: Osaka, Tokyo

Japan day 4: Tokyo
Senso-ji, Ueno Park, Tokyo Tower, Haneda airport

Tokyo Tower at night

Seeing Mount Fuji on the Shinkansen high speed train

We visited many fun places during this trip to Japan, but this final day was the best. The Senso-ji 浅草寺 (Asakusa Kannon Temple) is famous for the Kaminarimon Gate 雷门, or Thunder Gate. We saw several wild animals, 2 cats, 3 turtles, and a lot of fish in the Ueno Park, even it was very dark. The Tokyo Tower is very beautiful, especially at night.

Hozomon Gate 宝藏门 of Senso-ji 浅草寺

The Five Storied Pagoda of Senso-ji being repair

The smoke, 熏香, said to bring good luck and heal,

locates at the main building in front of Senso-ji
浅草寺观音堂

A very long line

waiting to pray

at the main building
in front of Senso-ji
浅草寺观音堂

The main building of Senso-ji 浅草寺观音堂

Hashimoto Yakusi-do Temple

of Senso-ji 浅草寺药师堂

一言不动尊

See the sacred tree? Its truck has 5 "fingers"!

Find it at the back of the temple 浅草寺观音堂背后

Garden of Senso-ji 浅草寺

Senso-ji 浅草寺 and its Kaminarimon Gate 雷门 were wonderful. The Senso-ji is Tokyo’s most oldest temple, completed in 645. People normally enter through the Kaminarimon Gate 雷门 first, but we entered through the gate where most people exit through, called the Hozomon Gate 宝藏门! Both these gates allow access to Senso-ji, but the Hozomon Gate 宝藏门 gives access to the main hall first and many shops. The smoke rising from special sticks is supposed to help bring luck and heal 熏香. Wooden statues of 2 gods stand at the Kaminarimon Gate 雷门, which was constructed in 942. They are god of wind and god of thunder, from which the gate gets its name. However, a fire burned the gate down in 1865 and was finally rebuilt in 95 years later.

The Kaminarimon Gate 雷门 and O-waraji 草鞋

This pair of huge traditional straw sandals are called O-waraji,

weight: 2500kg, height: 4.5 meters

The charm is there to against evils

Wish for being a good walker, touch them!

The Kaminarimon Gate 雷门 (风雷神门)

with the god of wind 风神 and the god of thunder 雷神 standing beside

The gods standing at Kaminarimon Gate 雷门

Left: The lantern of Kaminarimon Gate 雷门 Right: the bottom of the lantern

浅草寺名小吃牛肉馅饼

Exit through Kaminarimon Gate 雷门

Passed by the Chief Temple of the Todo-Buddhist sect. Zojoji

净土宗大本山增上寺

See the Tokyo Tower at its back?

Tokyo Tower at night

the Main Observation (150 meters high) of Tokyo Tower at night

Tokyo at night

viewed from

Tokyo Tower

The blue light and
star lights on my body,

Tokyo Tower

The Tokyo Tower was awesome. It is 333 meters high and the largest self-supported steel tower in the world! We visited the Main Observation (150 meters high) at night, when they were playing music. It was called “A Summer’s Dream” and sounded very lovely. We went down a flight of stairs and got to a floor with windows at the floor the view the underside. The elevator down and up was very quick, especially since it was over 150 meters!

This day in Japan was excellent. Senso-ji is one of Tokyo’s most famous temples. Its entrance the Thunder Gate is watched by the gods of wind and thunder. The Tokyo Tower was a beautiful place. All of these places were fabulous.