Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2013

HIGH TIMES IN LOW TOWN

Regarding “Old-School Asakusa”: Good on you Yukari for promoting the “Poor Cousin” eastern side of the city. We [always] get hammered with Roppongi, Azabu, Hiroo promotions… blah blah blah, but hear almost nothing about the much more interesting, much more traditional play areas of Asakusa, Ueno, Kita Senju and even Ikebukuro. I think we are seeing a slow drift in interest back to this side of the city now, though. Cheers!—MaguroKen

I live in a Shitamachi area, and love Shitamachi people, shops, and places! A great cover, with very photogenic people—and unaju is my favorite Japanese dish.—anon

I don’t know if this still falls within Shitamachi (maybe it’s more Kita-machi), but one of my favorite spots is a quaint little station called Horikiri along the Tobu Isesaki line (now called Skytree line). It exists at a narrow point where the Sumida and Arakawa rivers approach each other, at the northeastern corner of Tokyo. It is a crossroads for two rivers, highways, a train line, bicycle and pedestrian routes. There is a nice ramen shop near the station too. Walking northward along the Arakawa River from there is very pleasant. You can see high-school kids practicing baseball, people walking their dogs, occasionally a saxophone player practices atop the ridge of the river bank. There’s always something that catches the eye. In the evening a mysterious yakatabune pier lights up beyond the fields.—Alexander Wagner

ALICE DOESN’T WORK HERE ANYMORE

Regarding “Opening: Alice goes gothic”: Worst service ever. I went there with a group of eight people and while we were ordering, the waitress said that the food we ordered wouldn’t fit on the table. At that time only four of us had ordered. So in the end she brought four people food while the others had to wait for an hour. After, we asked if we could pay separately. We couldn’t. So it was quite a mess and it took us a long time to calculate everything. They also had two extra fees that were quite high for the bad service they offered. It is the worst experience I’ve had while eating out in Japan.—Maria

WE ASKED ON @METROPOLIS TOKYO

January 15: How did everyone fare in yesterday’s blizzard?

I saw 4 people riding bicycles at 10pm last night! Lots of people shoveling this morning.—@AussieinJapan

I saw a Japanese woman in 10cm stilettos (!) & a Japanese man trying to use a 1-foot 3-pronged gardening tool to hack hard-packed ice!—@nzsavvygirl