Tokyo Day 3 – Sensoji Temple & 7-Course Japanese Meal

Ohayo Goziamasu,

The weather was horrible today. It was cold, windy and rained ALL day and guess who had a scheduled an outdoor tour for 9am? That’s right, I did! Located in Asakusa, a more traditional part of Japan, Sensoji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo said to have been built in 628. The Buddhist shrine is very popular and attracts over 1.5 million tourists a year. so of course it was a must-see for me. Even as the winds assaulted my face I couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful it was. It looked like a temple you’d see in a quintessential Japanese martial arts movie. There’s a similar practice in cleansing yourself before entering but they had a slightly different prayer method. They also had this contraption that produced smoke. It’s believed that the smoke has healing powers and you can put some on your face to make you more beautiful or your head to make you smarter and so on. There are streets filled with stalls for souvenirs and street food so if temples aren’t your thing you occupy yourself with shopping. I loved the sweet bean fritter I tried, it was freshly fried and perfect for the weather.

Bean fritter

Samarui swords

More sweet bean cakes

Fresh rice cakes

Handmade soaps

Later in the evening Kiki and I went to a Michelin-rated Japanese restaurant called Unkai for a 7-course traditional Japanese menu. It involved everything from cooking your own meat, tempura and sashimi. In my opinion the food was pretty blah and considering how expensive it was, I was sad we both left hungry. Ish happens right? Lol