There will be no scientific program on Wednesday afternoon. We recommend to visit Asakusa in the early afternoon and offer an opportunity to enjoy Japanese traditional cultures together at 4pm.
We have group reservation at Jidaiya in Asakusa, where you can enjoy professional Japanese instruments playing and experience Japanese cultures like Iaido, Sado (tea ceremony), or Japanese drum.
Date: 5th Dec. (Wed.) 4pm-6pm
Price: 7,500 JPY
We offer three options you can chose:
Iaido: the way to treat Japanese swords, Katana. You can experience basic movements of Iaido.
Sado (Tea ceremony): the way to enjoy Japanese tea. You can experience a series of processes to taste the tea.
Japanese drum: You can actually play Wadaiko (Japanese drum). Playing them is much more fun than just listening.
Meeting points [updated on Dec. 4]
It takes ~45 min from Kavli IPMU to the social event by Tsukuba Express.
Here is the map of Asakusa, in which social event places together with some nice places to visit are shown. Social events start at 4pm with three groups, so please come to the marked place by 3:50pm (3:30pm for Iaido) depending on your group assignment. Please note that there are several Asakusa stations and the Tsukuba Express Asakusa station is far from the others. You need to catch the train leaving from Kashiwanoha Campus station at 2:54pm (2:35pm for Iaido) at the latest. If you find difficulties to get meeting points, please send an e-mail to Tadafumi Matsuno (tadafumi.matsuno (at) nao.ac.jp). There should be a lot of places in Asakusa with free wifi access (you might need a pre-registration, see here for free wifi access in Japan).
[For Iaido participants] The Iaido place is a little far from the central part of Asakusa. I recommend you to use Taxi. If you do not feel comfortable to come to the Iaido place by yourself, please come to the tea place before 3:40pm (3:20pm)
Address of the meeting places
Iaido: 本所地域プラザ BIG SHIP （東京都墨田区本所１-１３-４）/ 1-13-4, Honjo, Sumida-ku, Tokyo-to
Tea: 時代屋 江戸蔵 (東京都台東区雷門２－３－８) / 2-3-8, Kaminarimon, Taito-ku, Tokyo-to
Drum: 時代屋 駒形館 （東京都台東区駒形２-７-３ セブンツー駒形２階 江戸通り沿い） / 2-7-3 2F, Komagata, Taito-ku, Tokyo-to (Main Entrance faces the larger street)
Time table
4pm: Starting experiences as three separate groups
5pm: Moving to the Drum place to enjoy a show by professionals
6pm: Ending of the social event
There are a lot of nice places for sightseeing and nice restaurants in Asakusa. We recommend to explore Asakusa by yourself before our social events and to have dinner after the event! Just do not miss the last train, which leaves Asakusa station around 20min past midnight.
