Kimono Experience in Tokyo | Walking in the Busy Streets of Asakusa

Our main goal in visiting Japan is to experience things that are only possible here, among which is wearing a kimono. You simply cannot leave Japan without trying this and walking in the streets like a traditional Japanese local. For us, it was best to have a kimono-wearing experience in the streets of Asakusa, Tokyo.

Trivia: The word kimono literally means “a thing to wear”, from its Japanese roots ki which means “wear”, and mono which means “thing”. But it basically refers to clothing originally worn as a formal garment for special occasions in Japan. By description, it is a long robe with wide sleeves and tied with a sash.

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Our Kimono wearing experience in Asakusa

We tried Hanaka Kimono Rental which we booked through Klook in advance. It is inclusive of kimono, matching bag, socks, sandals, and hairstyling. There’s a wide selection of kimono designs and different options from standard kimono, colorful kimono, hakama, furisode, and homongi. For us, we picked the Colorful Kimono Plan for Male & Female (2 persons) for around ₱2,464 (I’ll just put it in pesos since we purchased it in pesos via Klook).

Below is the link to where we purchased it.

Hanaka Kimono Rental with Hairstyling in Asakusa

Klook.com

We arrived at Hanaka Kimono Rental at around 9 am. The staff are quite experienced in kimono dressing. The whole process including the hairstyling took about 15 minutes.

All our personal belongings (except gadgets and wallets) were put in storage so that only our phones and wallets would be put inside the bag they provided. The bag matches our kimono which is also important so as not to ruin the entire look.

 

For the sandals, they have lots of choices too. I just had a hard time looking for my size since I have quite long feet. I only found a pair closest to my size which is a little bit small. Nonetheless, I was still able to walk properly on the streets.

They also provided each of us with a pair of tabi. It’s a traditional Japanese sock with split-toes usually worn with thonged footwear and traditional Japanese clothing.

 

Nakamise Street

From Hanaka Kimono Rental, we walked for about 5 minutes to reach Nakamise Street. It is considered the oldest shopping street in Asakusa. Nakamise Street is a 250-meter path running from Kaminarimon Gate to Hozomon Gate. Several souvenir shops and snack stores are lining up on both sides of this famous shopping street.

 

 

Note: We intentionally did not take and share photos of the whole Kaminarimon Gate and Hozomon Gate as there are religious figures that looked a bit scary and might not be suited to everyone.

 

Hozomon Gate

It was a cold Tuesday morning, but the place was still very busy and full of people from locals to tourists. We walked the full path of Nakamise Street until we reached its end part at Hozomon Gate. This is the gate of Tokyo’s oldest temple, the Sensoji Temple. The place is quite huge and very crowded.

Hozomon Gate is where we took the majority of our photos for the kimono experience in Asakusa.

Let me tour you around through our photos.

 

 

Side note: It may look warm in photos but in actuality, it’s not. Good thing, I was wearing a pink thermal inner so the kimono dresser allowed me to keep it since it matched the color of the kimono I’d chosen. On the opposite, they will require you to take it off and you’re going to wear just the kimono itself. So take into consideration also the color of your thermal inner when planning to have a kimono experience during winter.

So glad we also experienced the crisp winter mornings of Tokyo in a kimono without having to shiver!

 

 

Take note also that it normally feels “tight” when wearing a kimono. But here’s what I did: During the kimono dressing process, I kept on “inhaling” every time the dresser put strings around my chest. In this way, my ribs are at maximum expansion when the strings are fixed. It will be less tight compared to when the strings are fixed while your chest is in normal expansion. Although it still felt a little “tight”, but what more if I did not do the technique?

 

 

Back to Hanaka Kimono Rental

Walking back to where we came from, we took random photos of other notable streets, such as Denboin Street. It is a 200-meter shopping street that intersects Nakamise Street. Denboin Street has a quaint and old-fashioned ambiance. It was also full of crowds just like Nakamise Street.

 

 

You will also be able to see the Tokyo Skytree from the streets of Asakusa. It is within walking distance, but in our case, we did not have enough time to go near the Skytree as we have a scheduled booking for Shibuya Sky at 1:20 pm. We just took photos of it from where we were and continued walking back to Hanaka Kimono Rental.

 

 

But first, we bought some snacks (onigiri and sandwiches) from Family Mart along the way. Never mind stepping out of character for a while if you’re hungry. It’s quite a cute experience actually.

 

 

Final Thoughts: Kimono Experience in Asakusa, Tokyo

The Kimono-wearing itself is a wonderful and fun experience. And walking in the streets of Asakusa, Tokyo while wearing it made the experience more memorable! Not only its was a convenient place for such activity, it’s also a great place to see Japan’s culture and tradition alongside the city’s modern ambiance.

And let me also commend Hanaka Kimono Rental’s professional work as they did a very good job. Their service is highly recommended!

Here’s the link where we booked Hanaka Kimono Rental.

Hanaka Kimono Rental with Hairstyling in Asakusa

Klook.com

 

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