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Published: October 1st 2013
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I had today off because it was "Tokyo Citizens Day", so Rani and I went to check out Kawagoe, or "Little Edo", which was supposedly a half hour away from central Tokyo. Well, given our location and that by "central Tokyo" they meant Ikebukuro (which is not central Tokyo lol), it actually took us closer to an hour and a half to get there. Still, we left early enough that it was alright, and we were excited to see what the area had in store.
Getting off at Kawagoe Station put us nowhere near the area we wanted to be, so we did some walking, which certainly wasn't bad. The weather was gray and it kept intermittently raining, but it wasn't enough to be really annoying and it WAS enough to keep the big crowds away. After walking around, we finally found a few shrines before arriving at the main drag of "Little Edo."
The draw is the number of buildings that date back to the Edo period, and the bell tower, originally built in the 1600's and then rebuilt for the last time around 1890, after a fire. The street itself was very cute and picturesque, because I
love the Edo architecture, and the stores had lots of unique and cute things, many of them handcrafted. We were given samples of the local treats - all sweet potato flavored, which was especially delicious since it's now fall!
We found the bell tower, and then headed up to the tourist information section, where a nice man explained to us there was no English map. That's okay, we can use a picture of the street-side ones! We decided that it was lunch time, because I was starving, so we found an adorable Italian cafe that served us a lunch set with FOUR courses - it was so fun! A very relaxing and fun lunch in a cute cafe (the dessert was chocolate tart, and it was DELICIOUS).
After that, we consulted our picture map and went out to find Kita-in Temple and the 500 Buddha statues. First, we found another temple en route where the monks were performing their prayers. We got to watch them light the fire and ring the gong/bells with chanting, which was very cool. Kita-in Temple itself was also really cool - lots of old stuff inside the main hall, which opened up to
a beautiful garden where apparently five feudal lords are buried. And then we got to see the Buddhas! They were in another area off to the side, behind a small shop.
The story goes that if you go see them in the dead of night and feel them all, you'll find one that feels warm. If you mark it and go back during the day, you'll find that it's the Buddha that most resembles you. That's really neat! Since we couldn't go at night, Rani and I both tried to find the statue that we thought resembled us the most by sight instead and took pictures with them. 😊
I had some dango after we explored the temple grounds, and then we did some more of a walk that ended up being a loop back to the main street. We were craving a snack, so we decided to stop for ice cream. We found a stall with purple and yellow ice cream, and were intrigued, so we went up to ask about it. It was sweet potato, two different kinds, and the very friendly old seller told us "ミクスは一番です!" ("The mix is number one!") so we both ordered
the swirl. It was DELICIOUS. He also told us about the picture of him holding up a GIANT sweet potato ("So heavy!") and the potato onigiri things he made earlier in the day but was out of. Boo, haha. He was such a nice, talkative guy, it was very fun to speak with him (in Japanese).
It was a fun day, and a lot of walking. Kawagoe is a cute place and everyone was really friendly, but it's probably more worth it if you go to the museums, because other than that and a few temples/shrines of note, there isn't too much else. The shops are nice, though - I got a really beautiful new piece for my wall, it's a really gorgeous design of Mt. Fuji on a handkerchief.
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