Asakusa, Tokyo - Sensoji Temple and Nakamise Shopping Street

This past weekend I was in Tokyo with some family who had come to visit. It was their first time to Japan, so of course I needed to show them the best of, in one short day! I managed to snap a lot of photos during the day at the various sites we went to so wanted to share them with you.

The weekend was really cold. Maximum 10 degrees celsius during the day, but at least it was beautiful and sunny! We started the day in Asakusa, to see Sensoji temple and do some souvenir shopping on Nakamise Street, which runs from the temple to Asakusa Station. We arrived at about 9:30am, which was before any of the shops opened, so headed straight to the temple. It was already busy with tourists and visitors. This temple is popular for a reason. It is the oldest in Tokyo, and the grounds are lovely. It's a buddhist temple built for the goddess Kannon and was completed in 645. Of course, as with many sites in Japan, it was destroyed during the war, so the current buildings are more recent reconstructions. 

After we had finished looking at the temple and surrounds, we started our walk down Nakamise street. Although it's only about 200m long, we were shopping for about an hour because there are so many shops absolutely crammed with souvenirs such as fans, prints, keyrings, chopsticks, toys, masks, kimono etc. The family loved it!

View of Tokyo Skytree on the walk from Ueno to Asakusa

Shops shuttered before 10am

Cool art on the shutters

Koi Carp pond and Japanese garden on the Sensoji grounds

Sensoji Temple

Looking down from the temple to the temple gate

View of the pagoda from the temple

People lighting incense at the entrance to the temple

View of Tokyo Skytree from Sensoji

Weeping Cherry Blossom

Me and the kids!

My favourite stall on Nakamise Street - selling deep friend manju

Of course I got the sakura (cherry blossom) flavour!

View of Sensoji from Nakamise street

Senbei shop

Boys snacking on some senbei

pretty dangly things

Sensoji and Nakamise Street are a short (2 minute) walk from Asakusa station, served by the Ginza Subway Line, the Asakusa Subway Line and the Tobu railway.
Entrance to the temple is free and it is open all year round.