Asakusa

Asakusa was once a marshy district and therefore the part of the city where the poor people lived. Even today it is still the place where the old traditional life style is maintained. At the end of a long street of shops where masks, carvings, combs made of ebony and wood, toys, kimonos, fabrics and precious paper goods are on sale, stands the Kannon Temple. It is the center of Asakusa. Around it, everywhere within the 50ac (20ha) temple precinct, there is a warren of lanes with little temples, booths and also places where the Japanese can indulge their passion for betting, especially on horse races. All the streets here are without names.