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Tokyo, Day 4 – Sensoji Temple and Cold Soba

Sensōji Temple

On Day 4, we headed to the Asakusa district in northeast Tokyo which was a good 45 minute subway ride from where we were staying.  Here we explored Sensōji Temple which is an ancient Buddhist temple and Tokyo’s oldest temple.

There is a fantastic street of little shops leading up to the temple and we had a great time popping into the stores.

Leading up to the temple

Eventually we made it up to the temple.

Sensōji Temple

There wasn’t much to see of the temple itself, so after a brief visit, we walked around the grounds.  There was some sort of festival going on and there were a ton of stalls selling these orange flowered plants.  It seemed like everyone was buying one, but I’m still not 100% sure why or what exactly they did with them.

Lots of vendors selling orange flowers

There were also a ton of vendor stalls selling food.  The kids got shaved ice, Chuck and I shared some (awful) meat skewers, Beckett got a huge fried cheese on a stick, and we tried some other snacks while taking in the grounds.

Fried cheese stick

Shaved ice

Once we had our fill of the temple, we wandered around the side streets on the hunt for lunch.

Streets near the temple with the Tokyo Skytree in the background

We found a cold Soba noodle restaurant where a guy was making fresh Soba noodles in the store front.  The restaurant was quite crowded, but we decided to wait and spent our time watching the guy make the noodles.  He made it look so easy!

We ordered a cold Soba meal, hot Soba soup, tofu, and tempura.  I actually preferred the cold Soba soup over the hot soup, however, the soft tofu was awful and none of us could eat it.  The noodles were delicious though, and it was definitely a meal we won’t forget.

Cold Soba Noodle Restaurant

Guy making fresh Soba noodles in the window

Lots of noodles!

With full bellies, we headed to the Akihabara district which is known for its electronic shops and anime culture.  We found it pretty disappointing, although we did find some arcades to play in and this is where Beckett finally won “Mini Duck”.

Akihabara

Akihabara

At this point, we were all exhausted so we went back to the rental to get off our feet.

We were also over Japanese food at this point, so we jumped at the chance to eat dinner at an Outback Steakhouse we found in Shibuya.  It really hit the spot.

And then it was off to bed as we had quite a busy day planned the next day.