You cannot talk about Tokyo without visiting Asakusa. Although it used to be a typical commercial area 150 years ago, it is the now one of few areas in Tokyo which you can feel the atmosphere of those old days.

During the Tokugawa shogunate, there were a large number of temples in Edo (now Tokyo). People were more religious than now, and visited those temples frequently. As a result, a commercial district was built around each temple. When they started accepting the western influence, however, those districts have changed drastically. Most of them do not show Japanese traditions anymore. Asakusa too accepted some of those changes. They built some movie theaters as well as strip clubs. However, the center of Asakusa remained old-styled, and eventually became regarded as the center of Shitamachi, a synonym of old Tokyo.



In Asakusa today, you can find a variety of traditional stuff which you rarely see in other parts of Tokyo. Sensoji is the center of Asakusa. When you get off the metro, you are likely to go through the Kaminarimon gate with a huge red lantern. On the way to the temple, you will find a number of stalls, selling both traditional and recent goods and foods. After the stalls, you will see people sniffing and fanning smoke of incense. They believe that the smoke keep them healthy. After all, you will get to the main hall. Like other temples and shrines, people slow coins into a box here, praying for their happiness. They also buy a fortune slip, checking their future. Not only inside but outside the temple, you can feel the difference of atmosphere between old and new areas in Tokyo.