Asakusa, one of the most popular site in Japan for foreigners.
But ordinary Japanese such as me are wondering if you're really enjoying such a crowded site.
Even several decades ago, when Japan had very much fewer foreign visitors,
I didn't go to Asakusa on weekends because of crowdedness.
Look at the picture. This was May 6th, just after the Golden Week,
ordinary streets and ordinary eateries and ordinary stations were not so crowded,
so I decided to go to Asakusa where I found myself stuck among the huge crowd.
Oh no...
I found many foreign visitors who looked happily walking despite the crowd
and at the same time other many visitors who looked exhausted.
If I was in London or NY city strolling the city,
encountering such a crowd as this made me leave here, walk into the other direction.
Last month when I was in Kyoto I also found so much crowded sites here and there.
So I avoided most popular sites which ware on guidebooks such as Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji,
Ryoanji, Fushimi-Inari, Kokedera, Nijojo,instead went to Toji, Shokokuji, Honganji.
But even there it was hard to be in a quiet and sacred atmosphere.
Maybe I had to choose much less popular sites.
I want you, visitors from all over the world, to enjoy staying in Japan
and to come to Japan again, or again and again.
First visit to Japan could be fun only with a guidebook,
but on second visits, guidebooks or guidesites are not sufficient, I think.
Temples, shrines, gardens, parks, shops, museums, restaurants or libraries,
ordinary Japanese enjoy much more relaxing time at other sites or other times.
And ordinary Japanese want to communicate with you not only telling you
where-the-station-locates but also what-ordinary-japanese-think&feel.
Harry Sato, an ordinary Japanese