TOKYO: YANESEN

In Tokyo, we chose Context to book our tours. We appreciate both ToursByLocals and Context, and our choice usually depends on what each company offers for the destination we're visiting. Additionally, I find it optimal to stick with one company per location, though there is room for flexibility. Context typically features guides with a slightly higher academic background. We spent the entire day with Angel, an aspiring PhD candidate from Spain, who is studying the impact of Shintoism and Buddhism on the development of Japanese culture.

We started our day in the Yanesen area, a part of Tokyo that remained untouched by wartime conflict. We strolled through about six blocks of stores in an arcade that led to Senso-ji, Tokyo’s oldest established Buddhist temple, dating back to 628 AD. It has been reconstructed several times over the centuries, including after the Tokyo firebombing in 1945. The temple is dedicated to Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion.

Japan is a very clean place and it is part of their culture to keep it that way.

There were still more shrines to visit. Next up was the Ueno Toshogu Shrine.

Ueno Park hosts a variety of Tokyo's museums and cultural centers. It also features a stunning azalea garden that was just beginning to bloom and a path lined with numerous torii gates.

While exploring Tokyo, there is the ubiquitous Starbucks, and now, in our interconnected world, we found Uber Eats too. Below are pictures of the central train station included below and a bridge near the palace.