Asakusa

I managed to take a stroll down here late afternoon today. I passed the Asahi Flame (AKA "golden turd") then wandered over to Asakusa Park to see the Senso Temple (Senso-Ji) which enshrines a statue of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. Unfortunately it didn't look quite itself (it wasn't visible due to rennovations) but I also passed Asakusa Temple and several other shrines and statues which made up for the disappointment. The Buddha is ominpresent. I particulartly liked the twin Buddhas that sit side by side, the left representing wisdom and the right mercy.

The park itself has a fantastic atmosphere. It's not a place of greenery. It's full of the above-mentioned features and the tourist shops that have emerged as a result. Yet busy though it was, it was still peaceful and relaxed. You can sit on stones with flat, shiny tops like marble under the shade of trees. Then, you can stroll over to a stall selling sweet pastry delights with various fillings - mine was sweet potato, although pumpkin appeared to be the crowd favourite.

After fulfilling my tourist duties at the park, I took a leisurely stroll round the area. I have discovered that vending machines are like weeds - if there's the space on the pavement, they'll pop up and fill it. They seem almost organic. Also bikes are everywhere. And that's all over the pavement but I have not observed any near collisions. Thirdly, what strikes me about Tokyo with its ultramodern image is the amount of homeless people there seem to be. Maybe I'm just in the "wrong" area but I've seen perhaps thirty old men sitting about in the street. Maybe they're not homeless, although the beer can piles seem to suggest otherwise. Lastly, the noise emanating from trees is phenomenal. It's electric and violent - I was looking at the overhead wires but it has to be crickets. Move over cicadas of the Mediterranean. This is on a whole new scale.