On Tuesday, the day after the one we spent with Tamae, we had a leisurely stroll around Asakusa. This is the same area we visited last year so I’m not going to try to describe it all again. You can search on my site for “Asakusa” to find last year’s entry.
Our main destination for the day was a washi (handmade paper) store near Kaminarimon Gate. We weren’t able to visit this store last year; it was closed on the day that we went to it. It was again closed on Tuesday morning but after awhile I approached a couple of locals and learned from them that it opens at 11:00. [Mental note for preparations for next visit to Japan: learn how to read numbers well enough to read hours of operation posted on storefronts.] 20 minutes before 11:00 the staff arrived and we watched them open the store, wash down the sidewalk in front of the store, sweep the floors, etc.
The store has a staggering variety of paper types, some of which we recognized and some we didn’t. They have many different large sheets with printed patterns, similar to what Paper Jade carries but from different sources because we didn’t recognize any of the prints (aside from the traditional patterns). I purchased several sheets of a particular kind of paper I’ve been trying to find: the smooth, black paper used for making washi-covered boxes. Ironically it’s quite cheap paper but I haven’t yet found a source for it back home. Tracie bought several woodblock prints and a few small items for gifts.
After that we wandered through the dizzying array of shops and stalls, most of which we remembered from last time. The kelp-scraper was still there, although now there’s a sign prohibiting photography so I guess my photo of him is something of a collector’s item. Tracie spent some time with her favorite buddha and we took burning incense to his shrine and left other sticks in front of my favorite buddha.
I’m cutting this account slightly short because we’re about to head off to Hase-dera shrine in Kamakura.
