Hanayashiki is the oldest amusement park in Japan (150years) and although quite rundown it has this retro japanese feel to it that is extremely kewl. The last time I was there I was just a baby. The amusement park is located just behind Sensoji in Asakusa which was packed with tourists and old men visiting the JRA to bet on the sunday horse races. I’ve had many chances to go to Hanayashiki in the past (walked by it but never went in) but had a sudden urge to go there today, the first Sunday of Golden Week, probably the most crowded day of the year. What was I thinking? We only went on one ride which was the 50 year old rollercoaster. No loop or a big drop but it’s soo old and rusty that it does provide quite a thrill. There were a few spots I swear my head would’ve been taken off by a beam if I were a few inches taller.

(1) I liked the simple design of the tickets (2) As you can see from the map, it’s not a very big amusement park. No parking available (3) All the rides were crammed together, no open spaces like at Disneyland (4) This was the only wide space in the whole place.

Some more pictures of the Hanayashiki..

After that, we had tonkatsu (pork cutlet) at ISEN which I’m told is a very famous tonkatsu shop. As you can see the menu is very simple and the tonkatsu is standard looking and nothing fancy. But the meat was very soft and delicious.

Behind Sensoji (Senso temple) there were dozens of izakayas filled with people drinking and watching the horse races.

(1) The stew at this restaurant, is also very good (2) Asakusa is one of the older parts of Tokyo, look at all the telephone and electrical lines, Japan can be a very modern place but then you see things like this and it makes you wonder (3) My friend said this is the first bar in Japan. Well, I don’t know if I can believe a claim like that so I did a search on google but couldn’t find anything about it (4) Some more pictures of the back streets of Asakusa, there are already enough pictures of the touristy parts so I won’t bother.

(1) These lanterns are promoting the Sanja Matsuri which is coming up soon, end of next month I think. It’s the biggest festival for the Asakusa area and attracts millions of people (2)(3) This CD shop near the station has some really cool retro stuff, I’ll have to come back again and check it out (4) They prepare the fish fresh just like this plastic replica, I wonder is the eyes are still moving when they serve it to you.

(1) High-Quality hand made chopsticks for 105yen (2) Check out the size of these tempura shrimps (3) Kamiya bar is also this old style Japanese izakaya I’d like to visit sometime