There's a little bit of a secret. I want to show you guys

I've lived in the area of Asakusa

here, for the last ten years or so and since I'm moving out

I thought today would be a good time to give you guys a full tour of

The area and while it might be difficult to show you guys the entire

area what I'm gonna do today is turn the camera around and show you as much of this area as I possibly

can

Let's get started.

So right in this area there's actually three stations that give you access to Asakusa

there's the Ginza line the Asakusa line and over here

There's the Tobu Skytree line. This right here is the Tokyo

cruise building a lot of people don't know but you can actually take a

boat from Asakusa to Odaiba or vice versa

these boats will also take you to places like Hamarikyu or

There's night tours with the building right there

You usually get on the buses right down here right? Here is the ever famous

view of the sky tree and the asahi building of this building here is supposed to look like

Beer with foam on top and this right here is well a lot of people just call the golden poop

Let me know what you think in the comments this area here along

The river has always been one of my favorite places to just sit and relax and decompress

Especially after shooting a video this particular boat here goes to the Hamarikyu Gardens

Which is a beautiful garden

Located fairly centrally in Tokyo that has almost no people in it and the area up here along

The river is a very very popular cherry blossom viewing spot when walking through Asakusa

It is not uncommon to be lucky enough to see something like a Japanese wedding going on as well. In this building right here

There's actually a company called Tokyo kitchen

Which will enable you to do like

Cooking lessons and learn how to cook some cool Japanese food and there's a beautiful bamboo grove along here as well

If you make your way a little bit further down the river

There's actually cafes and whatnot over here

And I actually used to play shamisen at night right there

And if you come down even further there is a kids park here, but I actually wanted to show you these art

installations which were put here

solely to

Point towards or showcase the sky tree

In fact, this tube here is kind of interesting

You can see this country from inside so you can actually stick your head in

Here and there's like a little grate where you can see the Sky Tree you can kind of see during the day

But it looks a lot better at night when the sky trees all lit up. If you continue down the river just a little bit

More you'll get more cherry blossoms, and there's a Sports Center over there and to the left of it

There's actually a hidden cherry blossom Park that almost

Nobody knows about I'm gonna link a video right up here now

The river area alone is nice enough that you could probably spend a whole day here

But let's head back into the main area of Asakusa so I can show that to you

Norm! Hey! (Norm: Hi, nice to meet you!) Nice to meet you, I'm a huge fan!

(Norm: Ah, no way!) Thank you so much for stopping!

(No, no, thank you.) We saw last week about the secret sakura spots. (Yeah. Yeah)and we're hoping to go check another one out

That's awesome. That's amazing. So, thank you. Thank you so much

That was a lot of fun. All right, we're gonna get back to it. Also purple train. This one's my favorite

Also from time to time especially during Hanami season along the river they have vendors for food like yakisoba over there

And as we get back closer to the station area, there's a ton of restaurants and izakaya

Japanese bars here

One of my favorite places eat being Ichiran

Which is a ramen shop that allows you to customize your noodles and have private dining experiences

I'll link a video and right on the corner here

You'll find Kamiya bar, which is not only one of the best bars in Tokyo

But it's also one of the oldest. This is one of the only buildings remaining in Asakusa from after the war

And while it is a pretty good place to eat

It's actually really well known for this right here, which is called Denki Bran its in-house alcohol

Which is sweet and rather interesting

I recommend this and right in front of kaminarimon you will find the tourist information center

Which actually has one of the best views of Asakusa let's go in and I'll show you

Now there is a cafe up here but the real attraction is the viewing deck

It gives you a gorgeous view of the area of Asakusa

including the nakamise street and the temple

And depending on the day and time this place can get kind of popular but as you can see behind me

It is not a super crowded spot. So it's a nice area to check out also

This place has a lot of other stuff to show I'll just show one or two of them. Let's take the stairs down

The seventh floor has a bit of an exhibition space and the sixth floor has a multi-purpose room

Which has like a theater and performance space every now and then they're showing little films here or you get to watch live

Japanese performances here, which is kind of amazing. I really like this space and the second floor is just plain beautiful

In fact if you're not adverse to stairs

I highly recommend taking the stairs up and down because the elevators can get kind of crowded

so next let's head right into the main area of Asakusa starting with kaminarimon and the nakamise

Shopping street. I don't really think this area needs an introduction. But at the same time things wouldn't be complete without it

So let me show you quickly

now that nakamise shopping street is

Incredibly popular

It leads all the way up to Sensō-ji temple up there and a little bit of a pro tip if you do do shopping

Here go more for food than the souvenirs unless you can't find them anywhere else

Almost just as interestingly as nakamise street are the streets are on the side

Let me show you one of them over here

now the side streets are filled with tons of little shops one that I really like

Is this one here which sells tumblers that are made out of gorgeous kimono material. Look at this

I've never seen a tumblr like that anywhere

Each one of the side streets is also just jam-packed with little shops restaurants

You name it.

for example

This shop is really popular for something called melon pan and it's always lined up and this place here called the Sekai

cafe is known for having halal and

vegan, vegetarian

options and right down here is one of my favorite places to meet locals in the area of Asakusa called Rastamans Cafe.

This place is really good. You can make lots of friends here. One of the popular local foods in Asakusa is called okonomiyaki

This place is really good for it here also

In Asakusa you'll find a lot of these little streets like this

That line up really beautifully with the Sky Tree so you can get amazing pictures

These little streets are and always have been one of my favorite things about the area of Asakusa

Let's keep going and about 60 meters or so from the kaminarimon area

You'll find this street here, which is called Shin Nakamise Dori

and it's a covered shopping arcade. It would take me an entire day just to show you all of this.

There's a lot of interesting stuff in there shops, restaurants

You name it. Before we continue on I want to show you this agemanju place right here

Which is right on the corner by Shin Nakamise this shop sells agemanju which are a little fried

manju that have like bean paste inside of them and they're pretty cheap. They're like a dollar this place is really good

I recommend it. Alright this area really crowded. Let's get back to the side street

So if we cross over onto the other side street and go into the covered arcade

There's a little bit of a secret

I want to show you guys. Now be forewarned that this isn't the best of hidden spots. In fact, it kind of stinks

but if you like hidden spots

Right over here as you get to the end of the arcade here. You'll see this little tunnel right here

But this tunnel leads to an entire underground

World of little shops and restaurants and O sake and you name it, but even better

Yet is what we find when we get to the other end down here. As we come around this corner over here

there's an exit now, there's a cheap little ramen shop right in front of the exit with ramen for like

380 yen

But it's what the exit leads to

You see the exit leads you to that area where I almost started at near the station

So if you come out of the station and you want to avoid the rain

You can just let me show you it actually connects directly to the Ginza line. So if we go this way just pass the ramen shop

That's actually entrance to the Ginza line right there. Just realize it feels kind of creepy down here sometimes. Oh,

and the Sakae place was ninja bar with a burnt-out neon sign.

So coming back out of the entrance we went into

We're gonna go this way and then turn right

You'll find yourself on this street here, which oddly enough is

Usually not this crowded but you want to go ahead into this tiny little space here now. Let's head over there

So this is the street here. So on the right side, you're gonna have the Tokyo Skytree on the left side

You're gonna have nakamise and you want to head right in this way

Now if you like Kaisendon, which is basically sashimi on a bowl of rice

this place is really good and the owner is

super friendly

This guy here fantastic definitely come check it out there

And actually just a little bit down from his shop is one of the best restaurants available in Tokyo at all

And that is this place here?

Kikko, where you can listen to live

Japanese tsugaru shamisen. I'll link a video

So with Kikko over there and the Sensoji temple right there,

there's another temple right here that has a beautiful bell and if you ever come out Asakusa for any of the

Festivals. This is a great place right here to pick up some of your festival gear now

There's no shortage of videos showcasing the temple. So we're gonna head over this way

So directly to the left of the temple, there's an entire little park hidden here

That's just beautiful

Now it's a little more crowded because of the sakura right now

But there's a little bridge here

It's got a little bit of a waterfall running through it and on the other side and there are koi in the pond

right down here

Now coming out of this little temple park down this way is Hanayashiki

which is Japan's oldest theme park and it's still active and

Down this way. There's another covered arcade. I want to show you guys. This is it right here

It also has one of these melon pan shops and although it's closed today

This is one of the best places in Asakusa to get kimonos this Ogawa

There's also an entire shop here just for swords and weapons and ninja stuff and all that

And at night when all the people clear out it is a beautiful spot to get some photos also if we head over this way

There's a place that has been famously dubbed "vines covered restaurants street" That's right

I want to give you a quick show. This is it here and in the summer when all these vines are fully green

this is a beautiful Street either just get some photos or

Come and have a drink at one of the local little bars or watering holes. Now coming out of the street will land you right

beside the hanayashiki

theme park and

Right over here there's a street called Hisago Dori and there's a really cheap ramen restaurant in there

I want to show you guys. So this is

Hisago Dori right here and the ramen shop is right at the entrance now to be honest. The ramen is really subpar, but it's only

320 yen

You can get a ticket at the vending machine and then just sit right there at the counter or sometimes they put out a table

This covered arcade is also home to the wired hotel

Which is a really nice and fancy place to stay in the area of Asakusa as well as the Edo traditional crafts center

which used to be more of like a museum, but either way it's a cool place to check out if you like culture and

It's free to get in

So that's a thing. Just around the corner over here is the appropriately named sakura hostel

Which is a really cheap place to stay in Asakusa. Actually, This is my first time to ever see with the sakura

and I just remember that the department store near the station where we first started actually has rooftop access

I forgot to show you that let me show you quickly. This is the rooftop area right here

And there's almost no people

Let me show you the view so you can't really see it right now

But these Sakura balls actually light up at night and here we have a beautiful view of the river

And there's the golden poop. Are you laughing at the golden poop?

(That's what I said when I saw it!)

See it's not just me, it's not just me. Okay, let's head back. So yeah, that's also another cool spot. Sorry

That one was a little bit out of order

and I should mention that this covered arcade is also home to a lot of old traditional Japanese kissaten or cafes and

A couple narrow back streets that are house several fairly good