江戸消防慰霊祭

Yesterday my wife and I went to a festival that I had been wanting to see for years but never got a chance until this year.

We were a bit early for the festival so, since the festival was in 浅草 (Asakusa, Tokyo), we decided to go by the Tokyo Sky Tree tower and walk to Asakusa from there.

Tokyo Sky Tree behind 押上駅 (Oshiage Stn)

The Tokyo Sky Tree, currently under construction, now stands at 389 meters (it will be 634 meters tall when completed).

The Asahi Beer HQ is in Asakusa

Cruise boat

The Sensoji Temple in Asakusa was covered while it's being renovated.

Once we got to 浅草 (Asakusa), we went to watch the 江戸消防慰霊祭 (Edo Firefighters Memorial Ceremony).
This is the festival that I wanted to see yesterday.
It’s a ceremony to honor fallen firefighters. The ceremony involves the firefighters dressed as firefighters in Japan did centuries ago and doing stunts on bamboo ladders.
In ancient Japan, firefighters had to balance on such ladders while fighting fires and they would practice such stunts on the ladders in order to improve their strength and balance.
Modern firefighters in Japan still practice these stunts…for tradition and to improve their strength and balance.

Actually, last January I went to the 「東京消防出初式」 (“Tokyo Fire Departments New Year Drill“). That ceremony had many exciting shows including a similar ladder show. But it was still fun to watch again yesterday.

They use these hooks to steady the ladders.

After the ceremony was over we stopped by a store and I saw these vending machines. One looks like Ultraman…it sells, among other things, 「ウルトラコーラ」 (“Ultra Cola“).

We saw this pretty cat.

We don't have a cat...but this is our pet turtle.

浅草

Yesterday we went to 浅草 (Asakusa).

This is probably the most famous 下町 (Shitamachi) area of Tokyo. (下町 (Shitamachi) is “Downtown” and 山の手 (Yamanote) is “Uptown“. Read this post about a less-touristy Shitamachi area we like…and a brief explanation of the term.)

浅草 (Asakusa) is an area popular with foreign visitors. All Tokyo guidebooks recommend a visit. Yesterday we saw and heard many people there speaking 中国語 (Chinese), 韓国語 (Korean), フランス語 (French), 英語 (English), etc.

The most popular place for visitors to go in 浅草 (Asakusa) is 浅草寺 (Sensou-ji Temple). (Looking at the 漢字 (kanji characters) for the temple’s name, it might appear that it’s name is “Asakusa-tera Temple”. It’s not, though…but there is a shrine nearby called 浅草神社 (Asakusa Shrine). Anyways.)

Here’s a picture of the gate at the entrance to 浅草寺 (Sensou-ji Temple) grounds:

This gate is called 雷門 (Lightning Gate), and that’s what the paper lantern at the gate says. The lantern is flanked by 風神 (The God of Wind) and 雷神 (The God of Lightning).

So, here are five short videos of the area that I uploaded to YouTube:

浅草 (Asakusa) is more lively during one of the numerous festivals that are held in the area. I go to most of the festivals in this area (and other parts of Tokyo, too)…Click here to read a post and see videos of one of the recent festivals I went to in 浅草 (Asakusa)).