Tokyo Explorer

via Asakusabashi - a walk back through time

The area between Asakusa and Ryogoku is one of the oldest in Tokyo. Close proximity to the city’s main river, the Sumida, established is as an early centre for commerce and transportation. The suggested route outlined below follows the Sumida River from Asakusa towards Ryogoku and should take a couple of hours on foot.

photo: Mark A Buckton

Although the area is an old one, it is a modern building that dominates the Asakusa skyline, providing one of those contrasts that Japan is famed for. The Asahi building is topped with what its designers describe as a “Golden Flame.” Visitors, however, have on more than one occasion, less flatteringly rechristened it “the Golden Turd.” Whatever your view of architect Philippe Starck’s bubble –built creation, the building next door, part of the Asahi complex, is a good place to go before you start walking. The 22nd floor Sky Room Café has a good view of the river and the area you are about to walk through.

photo: Mark A Buckton

Ryogoku is on the same side of the river as the Asahi building, but it’s more interesting to cross the Azuma Bashi Bridge and go back to the main Asakusa area. Before following the river towards Ryogoku, a visit to the nearby Drum Museum provides a fun diversion. Follow Kaminari-mon Dori (street) from the bridge, on your left you will pass the Tourist Information Centre and on the right, Kaminari-mon Gate. For those who would prefer not to walk, the Tourist Information Centre gives information on rental bicycles, which come as cheap as 250 yen for a day’s use.

The Drum Museum is ten minutes away at the end of the street. Buy your 300 yen ticket at the first floor shop, then go to the museum on the second. Once inside, you can happily bang away at drums from not only Japan but from all parts of the world. The museum aims to foster an appreciation of the role drums play in different cultures and highlights the instrument’s varied uses in Japanese society. Kid’s care little about this but happily create one hell of a racket!

Retrace your steps back to Azuma Bashi Bridge then take the small road to your right alongside the river. You will pass the Khaosan Guesthouse, one of the few places in Tokyo where you can get backpacker-type accommodation—dorms go at 2,200 a night and rooms for 5,000 yen. A few doors down from the guesthouse is the Café Meursalt, a nice place to sit and watch the boats pass by if you have the time. From the next bridge Komagata Bashi, you can usually walk along the river bank, but be warned, sometimes the gate at the other end is closed, meaning you have to go back on yourself. At night the view along the riverside is particularly worth seeing when the ‘Yakata-bune,’ traditional lantern-lit wooden boats, cruise the river.

photo: Mark A Buckton

When the path along the river bank stops, follow the small side streets nearest the river until you come to Kuramae Bashi, the second bridge down after Komagata Bashi. Don’t cross here, instead turn right and go onto the main street, Edo-Dori, then turn left. A little further on you will find Sakaki Shrine on your left, a peaceful spot in an otherwise busy area. This is an ‘Inari’ Shinto shrine dating back to the Second World War. The sculpted stone foxes that decorate it are the main deity of this branch of Shintoism, and the small wooden ‘ema’ plaques that you see near the altar bear the inscribed wishes of visitors for good health, good fortune, success etc.

Back on Edo Dori, the shops start to get interesting. Wholesalers, specializing in decorations and all things associated with gift wrapping, gradually give way to shops selling dolls and objects which celebrate two special days on the Japanese calendar—Boys’ Day on 5th May and Girls’ Day on 3rd March.

photo: Ian Priestly

For the boys, there are long carp-shaped streamers, which are hung outside houses, on streets, or by the sides of rivers. As the carp is a fish that swims upstream, it is therefore renowned for its strength, so it is hoped that boys will grow up to have the same qualities. The dolls of samurais and mythical warriors symbolize the same wish.

The girls’ dolls come in all shapes and sizes, all beautifully dressed in kimono, expressing the feminine desire for elegance and beauty. The dolls make great gifts and even if you are not interested in buying, the shops are worth looking around. Especially recommended is the 170 year-old ‘Kyugetsu,’ just before Asakusabashi Station on the opposite side, It offers duty-free shopping, and prices range from 5,000 yen to 500,000 yen!

photo: Ian Priestly

If you continue along Edo Dori, after passing Asakusabashi Station you will soon come to Asakusa Bashi itself. This crosses the Kanda River, which splits off from the Sumida. Here you can see the old wooden shipping houses, the ‘Funayado’ and the moored Yakata-bune. You also get a glimpse of what Tokyo would have been like in the past.

Evening cruises on the Yakata-bune can be organised from here with costs, including food and drink, around 10,000 yen per-person. The food is usually “Yakitori,” grilled chicken on skewers, a traditional downtown dish. Although the meat served on skewers is usually chicken, pork is also popular in this area. A small open-fronted, stand-up bar on the street that runs to the left of the station called ‘Butaichiso’ is a great place to sample the food and the local atmosphere. It also has a wide range of sake on offer. In the evening, smoke from the grill pours out onto the street as customers stand shoulder to shoulder getting more drunk and animated by the hour.

Head back towards the Sumida along the side of the Kanda River and in less than ten minutes, you will come to the large Ryogoku Bashi. The views show the city in all its madness and glory. Trains shoot across the river along a nearby bridge, expressways run along the side, boats pass by below, and at night the neon drips into the water.

Cross the bridge and on the right side you will see one of the area’s most famous restaurants. The image of the wild boar above the door lets you know what’s on the menu at ‘Monjaya,’ and as you pass, you may even see the evening’s dinner hanging upside down in the window. Not recommended for vegetarians, but for meat-eaters, a chance to try one of Japan’s less celebrated traditional dishes.

Still following the road that leads from the bridge, Keiyo Douro, after the third turning on the right, keep your eye out for a small sign that points you to the Fireworks Museum. The Sumida ‘Hanabi’ or Fireworks Festival takes place on the last Saturday in July and is not to be missed if you are in Tokyo at that time.

The free museum has displays and videos relating to the event, and to the craft of firework-making that the Japanese, like everything else, have turned into an art form. On the day of the Hanabi, locals dress in colourful yukata (light cotton kimonos), and picnic by the banks of the Sumida, while a jaw-dropping pyrotechnic display lights up the night sky.

photo: Mark A Buckton

Back on the main road, the next turning left will take you to Ryogoku Station and the main sumo stadium. Just before the station another restaurant warrants a mention. ‘Chanko-nabe’ is a kind of all-in-one stew that forms a large part of the diet of sumo wrestlers, so there are many such restaurants in the area. Just before you get to the JR station, on the left side, you will see an Italian restaurant. Go down the side street here and at the end, you will come to “Kawasaki,’ the oldest and one of the best Chanko restaurants in the area.
The Chanko comes to around 4,000 yen per person, but the quality of the food and the setting, which makes you feel you have stepped back in time, make it well worth the price.