On Sunday we made a day trip to Kawagoe, a small city about 40 minutes by train from Ikebukuro station in Tokyo. It's known as "Little Edo" for its many Edo-period (1603-1898) buildings that remain there.
The main attractions include the Tokino Kane (Bell Tower), and a street lined with black clay-walled stores known as Kurazukuri. We visited one of them which now acts as a museum (entry 100yen) and which used to be a tabacco wholesaler's shop.
Elsewhere in town there are some large temples, an utterly cute candy-store alley, several museums, and part of the former castle (below).
One of the temples, known as the Kitain, has 538 stone statues on its grounds. The panorama below shows most of them, click on the image for a closer view.
On the last visitor bus through the street with the clay-walled stores I made the video below, which gives a good impression of the street. Highly recommended for a quick and easy day trip from Tokyo.
Links:
Koedo Kawagoe Tourist Association (English pages)
Next post: Happy Mascots spotted in Kawagoe!
Onions are usually associated with making people cry, but these can only put a smile on your face.
Local delicacy the sweet potato is more likely to scare off tourists with that grumpy face. Still, if you're ever in Kawagoe, I can recommend you try the sweet potato ice cream. It's purple and tasty.
These mochi-making mascots look none too happy. Presumably it becomes less fun if you have to do it all year round.
The one hundred million yen (ichi oku yen) note exists, is made of dried squid, edible, and will set you back only 350yen.
Usually in Japan you find people in bright coloured clothing either handing out tissues or shouting at passers-by outside mobile phone shops in order to promote their wares. Here, a trio of superhero ninja monkeys serve the same purpose.
I just love this antique. The frog is asking the rhino beetle car to let the turtle and caterpillar cross the road. Crawl safely.
