so odds are if you're coming to tokyo
asakusa is one of the districts you're
going to visit first and it's a
beautiful part of town though it's
become a little bit of a victim of its
own success over the years certainly in
the nine years that i've been coming
here it's probably changed more than any
other district in all of tokyo there's
lots of hotels and generic shops have
been popping up to cater to tourists so
in this video we're going to try and
find some of the more historic and
authentic places around town that hidden
around the district and hopefully when
you come to asakusa you can visit these
places and see what makes this district
so special
[Music]
asakusa is one of the few districts in
tokyo where you get a sense of the
city's past at the heart of it all is
the picturesque sensoji temple tokyo's
oldest temple dating back to the 7th
century and one which is dedicated to
canon the buddhist goddess of mercy
wandering through the intoxicating smoke
of a dozen incense sticks and the
bustling umbrella wielding crowds on a
rainy day you can easily see why so many
tourists flock to this quarter of town
but when walking the streets just be
careful for any shady unsavory
characters that you might bump into
along the way
i'm your guide today oh for god's sake
what do you think though asakusa
this is like a first place you should
come when you come to japan oh before
sendai right right normally
what do you think makes sense so special
oh just well i don't know it's the whole
like big big big temple with a huge
lantern the lantern is i think they're
very symbolic i guess i think it's one
of the biggest temples in tokyo
certainly the most vibrant like that
street filming down that street
nightmare you come here anyone take
photos it's probably one of the most
photogenic places in tokyo but it comes
at a price it's pretty difficult to take
photos because it's so busy but even in
the rain people love coming here and as
annoying as it is to walk down the
street in the rain like seeing all the
colored umbrellas really adds to the
atmosphere yep
so what are we doing now then uh you
must be hungry i am hungry yes you are
right and so i've got some
hidden jams
hidden jam
hidden
gem jim jim jim jim sorry jack in the
chat good job
before going to taste ryotaro's hidden
gem the sentence i never want to send to
a microphone again we decide to get a
bird's eye view of asakusa and see what
the district looks like from above
unfortunately just across the road is
the perfect spot oh hidden jam
so just across the road from sinsoji
temple there's amazing views here from
the tourism office eight stories up not
only do you get a sweeping view across
asakusa but over there you've got a
clear shot the tokyo skytree 634 meters
if you want to get a good sort of
observation deck view i've asked i said
this is the place to be like you can see
straight into the temple and it really
is pretty damn amazing and it's free and
it's free the best things in life are
free
[Music]
look at tokyo sky tree in the clouds and
next to that is the asaki beer
company the building and look at that
it's a golden beer with the actual white
fork on the top
how crazy is that who actually thought
of
building a building like that
[Music]
tonight ryotaro and i have decided to
stay locally and our traditional inn
is tucked away on a side street
neighbouring the sensoji temple it's
about as perfect a location as you can
get and even more perfect when i
discover riota and i are sleeping in
separate rooms
welcome to my room sir
come on in thank you come on in big room
a big room for a full forbidden tokyo i
guess this is all right this is all
right not bad is it big enough to handle
your ego though never never never bake
for that so can i show you one thing
that's definitely worth steak in this
room all right
you can see the five-story pie water
right in front of you
what a big
quintessential japan view
me and five story pagoda how luxurious
that
you've got perfection and terror all in
the same shot
perfection more perfection not quite
[Music]
at last the time has come for ryotaro's
hidden jam oh god and to find it we're
going underground beneath the streets of
asakusa into a series of gritty
alleyways and restaurants around the old
subway station that look like something
straight out of blade runner blade
runner with jam
jesus christ
what's going on
fortune telling hair salon some dodgy
massage place
it's like another dimension another like
blade runner
it's serious
it's not
it's not light-hearted blade runner
serious blade runner
down here in the depths of serious blade
runner you never know who you might run
into
okay
[Laughter]
i thought the girl with blue hair was
your friend because she still just stood
here and then you were like oh hello and
i thought i should have told his friend
no no just a stranger you just wanted to
be a part of the video it's quite it's
kind of scary like it was a little bit
scary many things happen in underground
absolutely but look at this place it is
honestly like going back to the 80s and
places like this are very much
disappearing across tokyo right true
right the olympics has been sort of a
catalyst for the gentrification of the
city a lot of old buildings are going
from the naga king capsule building
harajuku station
sega a lot of places
everything is becoming like more
fashionable stylish and everything but
still like if you just look around this
kind of place still exist unfortunately
because it's sunday nearly all the
restaurants are shut down here it's
quite quiet right
so we've got to try and find someone to
eat fortunately it's not long before we
find one decent restaurant open serving
up yakisoba fried noodles
we're getting some beef yak soda so uh
fried noodles with beef tenderloin
should be nice this is like the
antithesis of our normal tourism videos
right like most asakusa videos are like
really shiny nice tourist destinations
we've got these like gritty
rough around the edges places with rough
around the edges people
me
i'm the most stylish fashionable
shiny
gal
look at that 500 yen look at the portion
with the beef in it evan i love yeah
it's so simple you take some noodles you
fry them a bit of soy sauce drizzled
over
some wonderful chopped beef and it's the
ultimate sort of filling dish isn't it
oh good
for the first time i think ever
we sat in the proper location so we
don't have to touch each other with
chopsticks oh yeah yeah
it's true ryotaro and i always sit the
wrong way around
so he's on this side i'm on that side
don't we always banging
each other and do not ever sit next to
the side of who's a left-handed person
because otherwise we're like oh yeah
yeah that's what happens we should have
worked this out after like four or five
years of doing this
but this time
the first time in five years we've sat
on the correct side it's a game changer
got a whole video to film and uh
camerawoman's like the slowest eater in
the world
[Music]
come on alex
it's like an eating contest for alex
like
at the monster ramen gyoza challenge
it's just like some noodles
i finished it like 60 minutes ago
that's not true
three million years later after alex has
finally finished her noodles we go
looking for dessert and back above
ground it's not long before ryotaro
finds a place serving up ice cream it
looks like it's been covered in jam at
last
what is that what seriously what the
hell is that
it's massive it's a shaved ice cream
with a strawberry like serious
strawberry sauce on the top serious
strawberry sauce so i've got this nice
elegant dessert red bean paste
mochi ice cream the eleg and then
ryotaro's just got a pile of shaved ice
drenched in
strawberries the serious strawberry is
like elegant 100 percent atrocious looks
good that looks delicious it is good it
was good what's that i got soda
this is traditional japanese hawaiian
cream soda and this is something that
like in my key like who's six years old
that would order your six-year-old kid
would order this yeah well i am
releasing the child in me today
it's pretty good
wow that's sweet wow it's so good this
is like
more strawberry than a strawberry
that's what it is why is it here
more strawberry than strawberry because
i give better better review than yours
because i've seen your food reviews oh
just come on you just do it the rich
taste the dairy milk
in the ice cream i couldn't even say
that with the sweet decadent rich flavor
of the red bean and the
alluring
somewhat sticky
drink all the ice creams just melted
down the side of it you see i think
eating shaped ice like tells your
personality how you eat it from the top
from the side to the bottom
like i
come inside
why do you approach the ice cream from
the side i just i don't know it's high
quality isn't it just to show that this
i'm a really good person
kind generous how does he make this
up
muppet seriously this is like the number
one
the number one japan travel show this is
the sort of
terrible awful presenting that's
dreadful wasn't it
with ryotro having ruined dessert
forever we head back on over to the
sensoji temple which at night looks
absolutely stunning this is when the
streets of asakusa are at their best
as we saw earlier today the area around
the sensoji temple gets incredibly busy
during the daytime but at night not only
is it more beautiful in my opinion
because it's all illuminated but it's
completely accessible unlike a lot of
parks and places around tokyo it's all
open so pro tip come at night and you
can really kind of appreciate the temple
uh and get a slice of it for yourself
it's a beautiful place and a beautiful
view about to be ruined by riotous how
you do what about ruin i was enjoying
the moment but but is this your first
time um as well to come here in the
evening ever ever yeah in 500 years and
i did not know that this place was all
lit up and it's so beautiful amazing i
mean i used to come to asakusa quite a
lot when i first moved to japan because
when you come to tokyo it's like the
cheapest place to stay right so i used
to come here quite a lot so i know the
area quite well but i've been here in a
long time so it's quite nostalgic for me
to be here but it's raining like hell
it's right now yeah yeah i think it's
time for onset on sim yep
yes we need that yes it is let's go
like i go in before
[Music]
oh i've been looking forward to this all
day the public bath
wow oh this is nice this is really oh
oh dear welcome to japan what is your
purpose we'll visit business or pleasure
disappointment
there was no way i was going to sit in
this tiny private bath with ryotaro so
i've waited for him to get out and i've
got it all to myself it's really nice
it's made of um hinoki wood so it's got
this kind of i suppose this fragrance of
lemons it's supposed to smell like but
it's really strong timber and they use
it on temples and things but also baths
because it doesn't rot easily so it's
really good i think this is one of my
first times in tokyo where i've had a
proper japanese bath kind of experience
because they're quite rare and difficult
to find this is actually a private bath
so if you come and stay at this
you can kind of rent it out for like an
hour or two i think it's free of charge
but uh that's why it's kind of small but
it's got the most amazing view out the
window over asakusa and you can actually
see the tokyo skytree towering overhead
because it's a cloudy night it's got the
string of lights in the sky it looks
like a ufo or something it's really kind
of amazing but the sad truth is because
of the absence of tourists asakusa is
quite uh quiet at the moment a lot of
these hotels restaurants bars have been
almost empty you know this past year so
i'm hoping when tourists get back
they're all going to spring back to life
because tonight riota and i pretty much
have this entire nil khan to ourselves
and uh well that's pretty cool it's also
kind of sad you know there's people's
livelihoods here that are really at
stake and they really depend on tourists
in this area so asakusa come here enjoy
it enjoy the bath i don't know what that
is but it's really scaring me it looks
like something out of super mario like
the one of those block things is it our
super mario real throws nodding yes he's
behind the camera and yes that's ruined
the mood
waking up feeling refreshed after
relaxing bath the night before we head
on down for a traditional japanese
breakfast the quintessential japanese
breakfast and the quintessential
i haven't woken up face
what have we got here we are trying no
well
this is nice what's this they think
spinach with
sesame uh like sauce on top quit myself
by
a fish that looks like it's just been
fished out of
the pork yeah or the river yeah do you
know what it is
he's our japanese expert it's a fish
it's a fish it's a fish fantastic we've
got sweet potato steamed and some
scrambled eggs i mean japanese breakfast
isn't everyone's cup of tea in the
morning i would be lying if i said i
enjoyed having this sort of breakfast
every morning but once in a while it's
kind of nice it reminds me i'm in japan
so does your breakfast in the morning
look something like this is it sort of
traditional breakfast with fish and rice
or are we just talking frosties we're
just talking corn flakes neither just a
toast
toast like toast with like cheese on top
sometimes like you know when i have
money i know
i know um traditions are changing and uh
people are eating a lot more bread in
japan than they used to this kind of
breakfast i mean this is kind of really
gorgeous but like just simpler version
of this um used to be served at home as
well when i was living with my grandpa
and grandma
but i'll finish up our breakfast and
then we're going to check out the temple
and see what it's like in the morning
[Music]
just to show you how close you were to
the sensorji temple last night check
this out
[Music]
to be honest i didn't even know you're
allowed to stay this centrally
but the amazing accommodation tops off
our 48 hours in asakusa we've explored
tokyo's most famous shrine both in the
day and the night been to a cyberpunk
underground street eating a truly
dangerous amount of ice cream that's
allegedly more strawberry than
strawberry and of course we've stayed at
a beautiful traditional inn
ryota and i found this myocar and
researched our trip through live japan
the sponsor for today's video and our
trip to tokyo they're a fantastic travel
website where you can find hotels
restaurants and things to do across the
country to check out live japan and see
where we stayed as always you can find
all the details in the description box
below so guys that is the end of our
tour of asakusa retro tour very retro as
we've discovered the best time to come
is at night or in the early morning when
the shops are just opening because right
now it's pretty quiet right but for now
guys as always many thanks for watching
we'll see you right back here on the
abroad japan channel do it all over
again next time that's for me
i'm going to try some that shaved ice
here yesterday yes what the mountain of
gigantic but and it took me like more
than half an hour to finish it i'm up
for the challenge let's do it
modern and traditional this is japan
is it the real japan
it's the real japan it's the real japan
it's a real japan real japan what is it
the
modern apartment in front and towards
that
temple that's this is real japan real
japan yeah