Rodney Campbell's Blog

Asakusa (浅草) is one of Tokyo’s districts, where an atmosphere of the Tokyo of past survives. It is central to the area colloquially referred to as Shitamachi, which literally means “low city”. In this case it is referring to the low elevation of this old part of Tokyo, on the banks of the Sumida River.

Asakusa’s main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 250 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 280

Above one of the late flowering Sakura still in full bloom.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 90 mm, 1/100 sec at f/6.3, ISO 180

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Asakusa is always crazy busy, it’s a very popular tourist and religious destination. Here we battle with the crowds in one of the shopping streets leading to the temple.

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/30 sec at f/8, ISO 360

One of the things I had come here for was to buy some of the “famous” Asakusa senbei. Senbei is a Japanese rice cracker (for as long as I can remember I’ve loved these things). My daughters are also quite partial to them so it’s happiness all around.

Senbei have a long history, going back to the ninth century in Japan and even further back to the seventh century in China. The original crackers were sweet and flour-based, and it wasn’t until the 17th century that rice was used.

I remember buying the crackers here more than 20 years ago so it was time to repeat :).

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/320 sec at f/3.5, ISO 100

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