We waited outside the McDonalds for another of the registered guests to show up, and picked up a passerby along the way. Lily explained that the Japanese residents wouldn't take her tour for the most part because ghosts are very real to them, and they are concerned about evil spirits. Japan had just completed Obon, the Festival of the Dead, where the spirits of the anscestors go back to their homes to visit their relatives. Obon demonstrates respect for parents and other anscestors. Many of the Japanese hold family reunions and celebrations during this time, with most outdoor activities taking place in the evening when the spirits are the most active.
Our tour began. It was a walking tour that encompassed a large part of "old Tokyo" and would take two to three hours to cover. We began walking, looking at many old apparently abandoned buildings, often squeezed between tall contemporary ones. We learned about high numbers of suicides from the distant past, associated plots and murders coupled with Japanese history and legends. It was fascinating. At one point we entered a gated yard where several small children were playing in a wading pool. I looked around, uncertain if our group should really be traipsing through this private yard and then entering another gate into a garden area. It soon became apparent that this was no garden area, but a type of cemetery. Lily stopped us in front of an old cement marker that was hollowed out for the burning of incense. She explained that this was the final resting place of the famous artist Katsushika Hokusai. She opened the notebook that she was carrying and displayed some of his artwork. As we were leaving the small cemetary, the children were now accompanied by their mother. After some cordial greetings and smiles we were on our way. Obviously they were used to strangers coming into their yard to visit the grave of Hokusai,
A while later after a great deal of walking and seeing many more interesting buidings, gates and shrines we came to several houses that had two interesting statues out front in the garden. They appeared to be primates...naked primates...with human secondary sexual characteristics...very prominant characteristics I might add. After several in our group commented on this, Lily explained that they were statues of Kappa's. A Kappa being a mythological water creature that would abduct small children, and do unmentionable things to any adult that it would encounter in the water. The one building appeared to be a museum dedicated to Kappa's, as it had artwork and exhibits related to them. One exhibit was purportedly a mummified hand of a Kappa. Undoubtedly this part of the city was enamored with Kappa lore as they would appear as artwork on the sidewalks, statues on the street, and banners on the light poles.
The city was modern and clean, but then we travelled a few more blocks and the whole atmosphere was changed. It was as if we had gone back to an earlier time in Tokyo's history. It turns out that we had entered a district called Asakusa. It was very crowded making it difficult to get around. There were Rickshaws available for rent, but they were rented for fifteen minutes at a time and were relatively expensive. The sad thing is that people would pay for their ride and only travel a short distance because their fifteen minutes were up due to the crowded streets. We turned off and entered a shrine with a few people in traditional Japanese clothing paying their respects. It was there that we saw "The God Tree". The people of the city say that the tree protected the shrine from the Allied fire bombings during World War II, while the rest of Tokyo burned.
After leaving the shrine, we went back out into the crowd. We went for a few more blocks. Most of the people in the crowd were dressed in contemporary clothing, but occasionally you would see a woman tradionally dressed in a beautiful Kimono, but then entering into the crowd were some Japanese men dressed in...chicken suits! That really got my attention! What in the world were these guys walking around in hundred degree temperatures in chicken suits? Oh. That's not all. Behind them they were being followed by lovely women wearing feathers! They looked like Vegas Show Girls! "What in the world is going on?" I asked Lily. Lily had been taken by surprise too, but then it dawned on her "It's the Samba Carnaval". A Brazilian festival in Japan? It was very strange, but still hadn't quite dawned on me exactly what she was talking about. It turns out that this district has a large Brazilian population. We followed along for a while and then turned off towards some old amusemnt park rides. When I say "old", I mean OLD. The amusement park Hanayashiki was opened in 1853, and is reportedly the oldest amusement park in all of Japan. Lily told us that Asakuksa was quite the trendy place to be in the late 1800's to early 1900's with places to go see Vaudevillian acts, listen to Jazz, watch female swordfights, or observe Bubble Bath Wrestling. Yessiree, sounds like the Sin City of it's time. Asakuska was also the city that introduced the Geisha to Japan, and still has about forty active Geisha's in the city. The firebombing in WWII all be entireley decimated the city, but while it has been rebuilt, the center for the pleasure seeker seems to have moved to Shinjuku.
We made our way past a large shrine and a five layered Pagoda that was built to honor comedians, and then the crowds got even worse. It was a standstill. Then, the oddest thing. Music. Not just any music, but there was a live Mariachi Band standing on a trailer in the middle of the street, and the barely dressed young women were dancing in the street. It was a parade! How fun! Totally random (as far as I knew) and everything came to a stop for various dancers while the band kept playing. At this point we lost one of our tour group as our tour had come to a sudden and unexpected stop, and she apparently didn't feel like waiting for the Samba Carnaval. After about thirty minutes of this the Japanese Police appeared. They weren't there to stop the festivities, just pause the parade for a few minutes so that people could walk across the street. I discovered after I got home that it was crowded because the Samba Carnaval attracted over 500,000 people! The Police parted the waters of people momentarily and we made our way across the street to a small vacant park that had a pond and a fenced off monument explaining something in Japanese. I sat beside the pond as Lily described the grisley mass murders that happened at this exact location many, many years before. She told us that it is really creepy there. "I like it!" I said. "You like it?" Lily asked, eyebrows raised. "I find it very peaceful." I did.
It was a beautiful pond, and I found it very peaceful. It was probably my favorite spot in Asakusa. At this juncture the tour was officially over and we walked Lily towards her apartment as we were headed towards the ferry terminal for a ride down the Sumida River. When we were near the ferry, we noticed a building with a really odd structure on top of it. Apparently it was originally going to be a golden flame, but it was too high for the building code, so they had to lay it on it's side. It is now referred to as the "Golden Turd" because of the odd resemblance.We were now at the ferry for a ride down the river and another long walk to see the Tokyo Tower.
