We started in the cold rain our tour toward Ueno, Asakusa, Hamarikyu and the Zojyoji Temple.
These destinations are all historical places and have much to do with the
Tokugawa family, which had been the successive shoguns for 15 generations
in the Edo period ,from 1603 to 1867.
Ueno park is very famous for the cherry blossoms viewing, but almost all the cherry flowers petals had fallen down. But still remained pink of flowers and soft green of new leaves looked like a lace canopy.
Even in such a cold rainy day, Asakusa was crowded with many visitors, praying, shopping or eating.
They enjoyed the aroma from the incense burner and the gorgeously decorated altar of the temple.
Another good fragrance attracted us.
That was Ningyoyaki, the Japanese waffle with sweetbeans paste inside.
At a restaurant specialized in Tempra, deep fried vegetables and fish,
they were satisfied with its taste.
By river boat, we reached Hamarikyu Garden. They took thousands of pictures, for example, the various kinds of cherry flowers, the pond in a drizzle, the 300 years old pine tree and so on.
At the Zojyoji temple , the combination of the Tokyo tower and the main hall building showed the typical scene in Tokyo, which is mixed together with old buildings and modern ones,
We joined the evening service for a while and heard a priest chanting the
sutra in the sacred hall.
We talked a lot about the defferences between Japanese religions and other
ones.
Before leaving, I introduced a portable chemical warmer to them at a convenience store just in case.
I hope that your next visit would fall on the full-blooming season of cherry flowers! See you again.
T.T.