Touring Kawagoe

Kawagoe (川越) is a relatively small city in Saitama prefecture, about 30 minutes by train north of Ikebukuro in Tokyo. The old part of town has plenty of well-preserved ancient streets, narrow alleys and temples from the Edo period. That’s where you can find most of the tourists and most of them come from other parts of Japan, not so much from abroad. Still you can spot an occasional gaijin (foreigner), sticking out of the crowd. Agencies often recommend tourists in Tokyo to take a one day trip to visit Kawagoe because of its old part that resembles ancient Kyoto. More recently, Kawagoe has become popular in Japan because of a TV series called Tsubasa that runs on Japanese NHK. One of top tourists spots is also the Candy Street, where you can see shop owners making and selling all kinds of candy and other food using traditional recipes.

In contrast to the old streets there’s a modern part of Kawagoe. If you’re hungry, the best place to go is the main shopping street called Crea Mall (the Japanese love English words!) where there’s always something going on. You just have to be careful not to get walked over because it’s crammed with people all day long, even more so on the weekends. Somehow in Japan there’s an unwritten rule where on busy streets most everyone walks on the left side, so they wouldn’t create too much traffic jam and bump into each other. Same rule applies to escalators, too. Anyhow, on Crea Mall, one can find all kinds of restaurants, mostly Japanese food, but also Italian, Indian, Chinese… There are also department stores, convenience stores like 7-11, AM/PM, Family Mart (the Japanese call them konbini). You’ll also find electronic stores, huge gaming and karaoke places, boutiques and shops with tradional and modern trendy clothing like GAP, Uniqlo, etc… If you’re looking for something specific, you’ll most likely find it on this street. At the end of Crea Mall, you can reach the main Kawagoe station for trains and buses.

Below you can see some shots I took yesterday as I walked around Kawagoe while Erika took an English test there.

A typical alley in old Kawagoe.

“Tokinokane”, a bell tower, is the symbol of Kawagoe.

Old and new. (Does that car remind you of a panda?)

I was quite surprised at this view as large grassy areas aren’t common in front of temples. This green area with rocks is decorated in the style of karesansui, Japanese Zen gardens.

Ichiban Gai street runs through the old part towards downtown Kawagoe.

Yet another street.

How to build a house if you don’t have enough space.

Crea Mall, the main shopping street.

Crammed Crea Mall without end in sight.

Burger King dominates the world.

Modern Kawagoe.

A gang of bicyclists about to invade an intersection. Taken from a bridge near the main station.

A short video presentation of traditional Kawagoe (by Japan Channel on YouTube).