Ueno Bike Town and Sensoji Temple

Ueno Bike Town - Day Two

One of the sights in Japan that I've always wanted to see is Ueno Bike Town. Ueno is conveniently near Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple. Sophie wanted to see Sensoji which is probably the most famous temple in Tokyo. So we hopped back on the train and headed for Ueno station. Bike Town was supposed to be right up on the East side of the station but we had to search a little bit to find it. Along the way we spotted a fast food place called First Kitchen with 3 red bean fish shaped cakes (they just always look like fish for some reason, they are actually closer to pancakes) for Y200 (US$1.80). That sounded good, so we had to give those a try. Turns out they are deep fried which is a little bit too greasy although they are pretty tasty. A bit more wandering around and we found the Holy Grail: Bike Town. Bike town is basically a few blocks where most of the shops sell either motorcycles, motorcycle accessories, or both. I've wanted to see this place ever since I first heard of it in the late 1980's. It's an impressive sight for anybody into motorcycles and there is quite a selection of nice stuff. One thing I had already noticed was that the trendy style seemed to be flat-trackers a la Harley XR750. Weird. Unfortunately, superbikes don't seem to be the hot ticket anymore and the 400cc and 250cc superbikes I had always longed to check out were fairly rare. There were also lots of cruisers and naked bikes. Due to licensing and insurance regulations, most motorcycles in Japan are 400cc's or less. One side effect of this is the enormous looking harley clones which actually only have a 400cc engine.


Ueno Bike Town!



Forbidden fruit for Americans: Honda RVF400 and Suzuki RGV250... if I could only squeeze these into my carry-on bags.


Sensoji Temple - Day Two

Soon Sophie's eyes started to glaze over and it was time to head over to Sensoji. Sensoji is probably a long walk from Ueno but we decided to give the subway a try. Once we got to Sensoji it was quite a shock compared to Meiji Shrine. Instead of the peaceful shrine set in a nice park, Sensoji is incredibly crowded. The main alley leading up to the temple is lined with shops selling trinkets and snacks while the alley itself is totally packed with people. Maybe it was a mistake coming here on a Sunday. The temple itself is pretty nice, although Meiji Shrine was a lot more peaceful. In Sensoji's favor, the snacks are pretty good. We had some delicious fresh mochi and another red bean fish. The red bean fish cake cooked by some old lady was better than the deep fried fast food ones.

After wading through all those crowds we were ready to head back to the hotel and rest a bit. By this time we realized we just snacked all day and never really ate lunch. We were getting kind of hungry and it was time to venture out again. It was a little on the late side and we walked past a few places which we couldn't make up our minds about. Then we stumbled upon Hiday, a ramen shop which is apparently a chain. The place was fairly crowded and the plastic food out front looked good and surprisingly cheap. Looked like a winner to us. We ordered ramen with egg, chashumen, and gyoza which came to a whopping grand total of Y1300 (US$12). The food was very good and quite a bargain! Not only was the food good and cheap, the restaurant itself was quite nice on the inside. Now we had 2 out of the 3 noodle groups taken care of. Only soba was left and we had 2 days to find some, should be no problem.


Lantern at the front gate to Sensoji.



Alley leading up to the temple is a bit on the crowded side.



This mochi stand had some delicious fresh mochi! One quirk in Japan is that people generally do not eat while walking. You are supposed to stand right in front of the shop and eat your goodies. You are not supposed to stand in front of neighboring shops or walk away. We got scolded for first (trying to) walk away and then second for standing a couple inches over the line between shops.



Inner gate.



Pagoda



Temple.



Sophie and another giant lantern.



Looking back at the inner gate and the crowds.



Inside the temple.



The famous "Golden Turd" on the Asahi building.



Ramen for dinner at Hiday.


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