Asakusa, Tokyo

Of Interest: Senso-ji temple, Sumidagawa River cruise, Asakusa shrine

Lodging: multiple, including many budget hotels and ryokan

Tourist Office: between the metro station and Senso-ji

Lockers available: small and medium

There are two Asakusa Stations. One serves the Ginza and the Toei Asakusa subway lines as well as the Tobu Isesaki line that heads out of Tokyo into Saitam, Tochigi, and Gunma Prefectures.

The second one is a stop on the Tsukuba Express. The Tsukuba station is fully accessible with small and medium lockers. It is also fully handicapped accessible. It is an attractive station with murals of the history of the area.

And Asakusa is a good area for history buffs. Asakusa was a village in ancient times that was absorbed into old Edo. Asakusa is Tokyo's oldest entertainment district and is a good place for traditional culture. Asakusa still has geisha houses and other forms of traditional culture.

The main tourist attraction is Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple. Originally built in 645, the temple and its grounds were mostly destroyed during WWII. On the temple grounds is a tree that was almost killed by a bomb during the war. The tree regrew from the burned stump, and this symbolizes the reconstruction of the temple. Asakusa shinto shrine is next to the temple.

There are also museums in the area. Tepco Asakusa (Folk Museum) is near the Tsukuba line station.

To help people get around, there is a local loop bus.

There is an excellent blog post about Asakusa at the Tokyo Dreaming blog including pictures that express the feeling of the place.

Jeongeup

Lodging: multiple motels

Tourist Office: Yes

Of interest: river walk, Jeongeupsa Park, Chungreolsa temple, Jeongeup Hyanggyo

The name Jeongeup comes from a Baekje era song, one of only five songs that survived to today. The country of Jeongeup is full of historical monuments. In the city itself there are two areas of interest.

Turning right when you leave the station will take you to a small river with paths along both banks. Go left to walk into the city, walk right to walk away. If you walk left along the river for about twenty-five minutes, you will come to Jeongeupsa Park which contains the Jeongeupsa Art Center.

Turn left when you leave the station and then right at the first major street will take you toward City Hall. Chungryeolsa and the Jeongeup Hyanggyo are behind the city hall. Hyanggyo were Joseon-era public elementary schools.

I didn't actually see any of the above. I walked along the river and then through the city instead. It is possible to walk from one end of the city to the other in less than an hour. There are not a lot of sidewalks, but drivers are very polite to pedestrians. I did find the town's central "pedestrian" area. Unlike most pedestrian areas, this one formally let cars drive down it. But there were actually less cars than on some other "pedestrian" areas in Korea because the road was curved like a river. It was also painted blue. There was a exhibition of traditional Korean painting along the road.

I had a hard time finding a restaurant to eat at, but once I did, I was very happy. I just went to a local kim bap place where I had excellent turnip green (yeol mu) bibimbap. One of the things that I like about Jeolla-do is that you can go to the simplest restaurant and eat better than at an expensive big city restaurant.

Soyosan Subway Station

Lodging: Yes

Tourist Office: No

Of interest: Soyo Mountain, Jajeam Mountain, Peace Museum, Wonhyo Waterfall

I like to go exploring because of the unexpected things that I see. Here I saw maple trees with pink seeds. I have only ever seen brown maple seeds.

Soyosan Station is at the northern end of line 1. San means mountain, and this station is at the foot of Soyo Mountain.

Almost everyone who gets off here is going to the mountain, so just follow the crowd. You will walk through a little town with motels and restaurants. There is a motel actually on the mountain along with several restaurants, so I recommend waiting.

There is a also a peace museum right outside the little town.

I didn't stay overnight, but I did eat. An excellent meal. The restaurant was next to the stream that comes off the mountain. They specialize in mushroom dishes. I had mountain vegetables which were really good.

One of the oldest temples in Korea is located here although the current buildings were actually built after the Korean war. The Buddhist monk Wonhyo built Jajae'am-sa in 645.

The walk from the station is not the only way up, it just one of the easiest and most convenient. You can also walk from one of the back gates of Camp Casey.