Asakusa is the Tokyo that knows exactly what it is. This is the temple town and the old pleasure quarter, three kilometres that hold the city's oldest -ji (Buddhist temple), a street of grilled rice crackers, and the best view of the Skytree there is.
Start under the Kaminarimon — the thunder gate, the giant lantern — and come early, because by late morning the approach is a slow river of people. Nakamise-dori runs from the gate to the temple, stalls either side; eat a senbei as you go, then duck off into the side lanes, which are where Asakusa actually lives. Senso-ji itself is rebuilt, post-war, and none the worse for it: the incense, the pagoda, the steady tide of people who came to pray rather than to photograph.
West of the temple, Hoppy-dori is asleep in the morning and roaring by dusk — note it for later. Then east, to the river. Cross to the middle of the Azumabashi and the Skytree is right there across the Sumida. End on the riverside path, cherry trees overhead, the metro a few minutes back at Honjo-Azumabashi.
