The previous post is Marunouchi and Aunkai (April 18).
The next post is Shiodome, Akihabara, and Roppongi (April 20).

Asakusa (April 19) · Apr 20, 02:45 AM

I woke up early and had intended to see the Tsukiji fish market auction, but I wasn’t early enough — it’s over by 6 AM. Instead I ate at one of the hole-in-the-wall 24 hours places where you look over the pictures, put coins in the machine, and take your ticket to the counter. Meat over rice with miso soup.

The sun’s not out, but it’s still bright; these are lousy tourist-photography conditions, but great conditions for walking along the riverside park, getting lost in side streets, discovering random shrines in spaces between skyscrapers, and wandering the crowded market of Asakusa.

The Kannon temple is the heart of Asakusa, and it is huge. Inside, monks were chanting and beating drums. Outside, visitors to the temple were wafting incense smoke coming out of a large cauldron over themselves. There’s a five story pagoda, too. The courtyard and streets are thick with Japenese school-children on field trips, tourists, and gaijin. Purses, kimonos, red-bean jelly snacks, kitchenware, and assorted knick-knacks are all for sale in the adjacent market. I had a tremendously yummy katsu-don lunch. That’s deep-fried pork over rice. There’s a strangly cooked egg draped over the pork that increases the yummy factor.

Somewhere this morning I lost the key to my valuables locker.

I met Rob at Shinjuku again for another class with Akuzawa; I think something has clicked in me with this training. Now I can explicitly feel the jin-strength connection path through my body. It’s a little un-nerving. For example, on the train ride home, I was holding my arms straight out in front of me, maintaining the proper tension across the back and out to the fingertips. When Rob pulled on my right forearm, I felt the pull directly in my left arm, and both elastically went with the pull. Weird, and also a eureka moment.

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