Tokyo Flaneur 2 Asakusa

*External link to the Japanese website
**External link to the website except written in Japanese

After buying hayauri Weekly Shonen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ) vol.13 at Ueno (上野), about 8 p.m. I started for Asakusa (浅草) from there by walk.
I walked there along Asakusa dori street (浅草通り), under which Subway Ginza line (地下鉄銀座線) runs through to Asakusa and along which there are a lot of shops for Buddhist altar fittings (仏壇・仏具店) because there are also a lot of Buddhist temples around there.
But those shops were already closed therefore along the street it was dim and there were few passengers and cars.


Mascot of Western tableware shop Niimi (ニイミ洋食器店)

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Please read the following texts with my walking route* (created Feb. 28) on "Chizumaru" (ちず丸) provided by a map publisher Shoubunsha (昭文社).
(Attention: the walking route would be deleted automatically by the provider if it is NOT accessed ONCE every 60 days since last accessed.)
(注意: この行程表は、最後にアクセスされてから60日間アクセスがないと、プロバイダ側で自動的に削除されます)

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I turned left at the crossing to Kokusai dori street (国際通り) (point 2).
And soon after a few minutes' walk, I turned right at the T-shaped junction to Kaminari-mon dori street (雷門通り) (point 3).


T-shaped junction of Kokusai dori to Kaminari-mon dori

This is not the first time for me to walk through this course between Ueno and Asakusa while I cannot remember when I walked this course first; I guess maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

I went to Asakusa in order to eat tsukemen because I ate ramen at Ramen Jiro Senju-oohashi (ラーメン二郎 千住大橋店) for dinner yesterday.
(The report about Jiro I ate yesterday will be updated later.)
So I visited Rihei* (利平) (point 4), which stands near Kaminari-mon of Sensou-ji temple (浅草寺雷門) and is regarded as one of Yasubee's (やすべえ) branches by ramen fans (Rihei and Yasubee are probably operated by the same manager.)


(Left) tickets to order tsukemen (Right) extralarge-sized tsukemen I ate (820 yen)

This is not the first time for me also to eat its tsukemen but "I did not feel that it tasted as good as before," as I wrote when I ate tsukemen at Yasubee Akihabara (やすべえ秋葉原店) before.
On the contrary, I was a little surprised and disappointed by the fact that it really did not taste good.
And some of the staffs spoke to each other perhaps in another Asian language except Japanese.
Some customers might be annoyed that the staffs were talking with each other though their guests were eating ramen just before themselves.

I would never come to Asakusa expressly to eat its tsukemen again.

After going out of Rihei, I began to walk toward Oshiage station on Keisei Oshiage line (京成押上線押上駅) which is located in Sumida ward (墨田区) because from Asakusa station (浅草駅) I could take Subway Asakusa line** (地下鉄浅草線) train which ran through Oshiage line but I just wanted to skimp on ticket fare between Asakusa and Oshiage (170 yen.)

Walking across the Sumida-gawa river (隅田川) over the Azuma-bashi bridge (吾妻橋, transcribed "あづまばし" in Hiragana) (between point 4 and 5), I entered Sumida ward from Taitou ward (台東区).
By the bridge on the Sumida ward side I was received by the head office buildings of a brewery and soft drink company, Asahi Beer (アサヒビール), which is famous because of its golden object on the rooftop often called "golden s**t" (金色のう●こ) after its shape.
I walk again along Asakusa dori, under which Asakusa line runs through from Asakusa.
Honjo-azuma-bashi station on Asakusa line (浅草線本所吾妻橋) (point 5) is located just beyond the buildings of Asahi Beer, under the crossing of Asakusa dori and Mitsume-dori street (三ツ目通り).


The buildings of Asahi Beer; you can see "golden s**t"

In the day on Asakusa dori in Sumida ward we must be able to see Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー) which stands over Oshiage station and Narihira-bashi station on Tobu Isesaki line (東武伊勢崎線業平橋駅) but in the night dark we were not able to see it.
Also there along the street there were shops already closed, few lights and passengers and it was dim, too.

However, looking up at the sky, I was able to see the tower dimly with warning red lights.


Tokyo Sky Tree

And I could hardly believe my eyes when I found out a certain ramen shop at Narihira 1-chou-me crossing (業平一丁目交差点) (point 6); Ramen Dai! (らーめん大)
I knew never at all that the Jiro-inspired ramen shop invaded this place.
(I have visited Ramen Dai Koganei [らーめん大 小金井店] and Horikiri [ラーメン大 堀切店] before.)
According to this website*, Ramen Dai Oshiage-Narihira-bashi* (らーめん大 押上・業平橋店) has started its business since Dec. 10 last year.
I will challenge this Ramen Dai later though I think that every Dai's ramen tastes worse than every Jiro's one.


(Left) appearance of Ramen Dai (Right) exit A2 of Oshiage Station I entered

About 9:50 p.m. I arrived at Oshiage station (point 7.)
It was the Toei Train 5300 series** owned by Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (都営地下鉄5300形電車) that got to Oshiage for Inzai-Makinohara on Hokusou line (北総線印西牧の原行).
I was a little disappointed because I wanted to take the Keikyu Train (京急車) which is unique for its motor "Doremifa inverter" (ドレミファ・インバーター) produced by Siemens AG (独ジーメンス社) sounding "do, re, mi, fa..." when starting from the station (see this movie*.)

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According to the walking route above, I walked about 3.8 km from Ueno to Oshiage via Asakusa and I consumed 167 kilo calories of energy by walking.