Tokyo: Asakusa (Around Town)

Today, I went to Asakusa one of the parts of Tokyo that claims it still retains the spirit of shitamachi Edo. Shitamachi just means downtown thus I am not really sure what they mean by the downtown spirit of Edo. However, I gather that shitamachi is code for tourist trap. And the tourist trap does not just apply to foreign tourist either.
Anyway, historically Asakusa was a popular entertainment district in its golden years and was throughly destroyed by the U.S in World War II then rebuilt. However, was soon overshadowed by Shinjuku and Shibuya. On a cool note  there are still some full-time working geishas. 
There are a lot of pictures so I think I am going to do this in parts, just like Kamakura.

I get out of the subway, and decided to take pictures of the surrounding area.
The first being the Skytree, construction ended in early 2012 and opened to the public in the spring.
The second being the Asahi Flame, which is supposed to be artistic beer foam.
The locals call it lovingly the Golden Turd.

After that, I cross the bridge and considered taking the boat cruise around the area but figured I didn't have enough Japanese to fumble my way through. The view is beautiful, though.

 Next is the random walk around till I find the temple.

 Isn't this bus adorable.

 On the way to the Sensouji Temple I stumbled upon a small, and I mean small, temple associated with the Sensouji Temple.

The purifying spring has a dragon head, where the water comes out. Super cool! A note for the ignorant: the symbol is not the Nazi sigh, it is the symbol for temples in Japan. You'll notice that face a different direction. 

This temple was built because the Kannon statue of the Sensouji Temple washed up near the area.
Therefore, the area was declared sacred, in like the 1600's, and the temple built. In 1720's the local government declared the animals of the area not to be harmed for any reason, including the fish. The tablet above explains the significance of the small temple but was mostly destroyed by the bombing or a storm. I can't remember. Probably, the bombing.

This is a shopping center near the temple part of the entertainment flare, I guess.

The next part is the Sensouji Temple.