いきなり浅草 Asakusa

アメリカに帰る数日前に、ケヴィンから「友人にプレゼントする木版画を買って来い」という指令が下り、急きょ浅草に行って参りました。以前浅草寺に２回初詣に行った以外、普段こういう風には行ったことがなかったのですが、こうやって改めて行ってみると結構楽しいということが判明。

Kevin calls me a few days before heading back to Boulder and asks me to get some good wood block prints for our friends. Where can I find them? Asakusa was the answer. I had been to Sensoji Temple for the first temple visit in a new year a couple of times before but never been there for a purpose like this. It turned out to be a fun place to visit, and no wonder why it is one of the popular spot for foreign tourists.

木版画、仲見世でばっちり見つけました♪ついでに友人にお土産も購入。

Found some good prints at Nakamise, one of the oldest shopping centers. It started during Shogun Tokugawa Period, or Edo Era, goes back to 1600's.

そして浅草と言えば、コレ、金のうんち。イギリスの出版社が出している東京のガイドブックを最近読むまで知らなかったのですが、これをデザインしたのはかの有名なデザイナー／建築家フィリップ・スタルク。ロンドン在住中によく目にした名前です。本社ビルのデザインを彼に依頼するとは、アサヒビールもなかなかやりますな。

When you go to Asakusa, you can't miss this building. "Golden Turd" or Gold Flame. It's a headquarter of Asahi Beer.I was reading Timeout Tokyo guide book one day and found out that it was acutally designed by the famous designer/architect Philippe Starck, the name I saw often in London. Pretty impressive that Asahi Beer had him designed their HDQ. BTW, the building on the left hand side with a red frame is a police station sepcially designed to match the town.

Want to find out more? Asahi Brewery HDQ