We met some friends from Union in Asakusa the other day! Shoko (right) and her kids are in Japan this summer visiting family, so we were able to hang out with them one day. We had so much fun!
Asakusa is a part of Tokyo that is well-known for having shops where you can buy traditional Japanese items like Japanese dolls, traditional toys like kendama, and kimono or yukata. It's a pretty touristy area, but it was fun. I bought a lot of things for my classroom here - yay! You can even rent kimono (or yukata) to dress up and walk around Asakusa in, or ride in a rickshaw. We didn't do those things though - too touristy! :)
Ellie bought some dango (sweet rice mochi balls on a stick) all by herself. I was so proud!
These are traditional Hina dolls, which are displayed during the Hina Festival in early March. Asakusa is a good place to buy things like this!
Sammy found some neat traditional Japanese games & toys in this shop - denden (the little drum he is playing with), koma (tops), and some hanetsuki paddles to play a badminton-like game with.
Next, we went to nearby Senso-ji Temple. In front of the temple is a place where lots of incense is burning, which is where temple visitors can purify themselves with the incense smoke before approaching the temple. Also, you can buy a fortune, called o-mikuji, for 100 yen, which tells you about your future. (wink) Look below to see what kind of fortunes the kids got...
O-mikuji - You might guess by their faces, they all got bad fortunes! Shoko said she had never seen all 4 people get bad fortunes before! So, we decided the fortunes must be wrong, of course. :) But, either way, the custom is to fold the papers up and tie them onto a string at the temple, which they did, leaving all that bad fortune behind them!
