Kawagoe - A Discovery Impromptu

What wonders and horrors could await us here?

It was Eri who left me a message one day, as I got home from work. "Have you been to Kawagoe before?" it read. "I just saw a pic and thought you might like it, maybe."
"Let's do that this Saturday," I told her the next time I saw her. And we did.
 And, man, yes. I like Kawagoe after all. It's not a place I would've found out about or chosen to go to on my own, and for that I count my blessings that Eri showed me the way and came along.
 Located less than an hour out of Tokyo, Kawagoe's a reminder of what the city used to be in a time long gone. Of course, a lot of Kawagoe's been modernized. But all it takes is a few steps out of the concrete curtain to find a little bit of treasure here. It helps to know where to start, though, unlike Eri and I who ran from station to station and in circles looking for each other. But when I did find her, she had several maps (and a sense of direction twelve times better than mine), and with those in hand, we plowed onwards.

 The bulk of what's interesting to see in Kawagoe is located on one particular street named karazukuri no machinami, which is lined with very rustic looking shops and restaurants, most of which specialize selling equally traditional wares or foods. The street offers a window into what Tokyo was before it was even named Tokyo, with many of the store owners out in the streets in front of their own shops despite the relative cold of early February.


And it's from this main street that many of Kawagoe's most interesting features stem from or branch out of, one of which being the Confectionery Row, where rows of shops lay in wait that specialize in...candy.
 All of a sudden, I'm six years old again. I have a sweet tooth. So does Eri. We waste no time in buying one piece of every candy we dare try, sitting down, and eating them on the spot, where I was urged to try strange and marvelous things and others that in some cultures may be seen as only suitable for cruel and unusual punishment.

  Candy aside, Kawagoe also holds a few other vestiges of the past, one of which is the Bell of Time, which still chimes four times a day (although we didn't get to hear it out for ourselves.) The structure itself has a presence to it, and stands relatively taller than its neighbors. Behind it were a shrine and, oddly enough, a set of children's swings. "Shut up and go play, mommy and daddy are praying."
 

Behold what remains of my kingdom!

Our journey across Kawagoe also set us with another destination in mind: the Honmaru Goten, the sole remaining building of the former Kawagoe castle.
 The picture on the right...Well, that isn't it. It's a ditch. Apparently this particular ditch served to protect the outskirts of the castle. Nearby was a panel set up for touristic purposes explaining all the great things about the ditch which I couldn't care to remember. Luckily, though, we found there was more to the castle just a little further down the street.


The Honmaru Goten, while not as majestic as any of the famous bigger castles you'll find throughout Japan, is still a dignified and legitimate cultural heritage, and, crossing out the Imperial Palace in the dead center of Tokyo, which is inaccessible to visitors, is the closest castle to the capital city. A quick visit of the building costs nothing but 200¥, a price you truly can't go wrong with despite the time it takes to circumnavigate the place being brief. But a true buff of Japanese history wouldn't want to pass the chance up. As for ourselves, the major part of our pleasure in visiting the 500 year-old castle went a little something like this:

"Oh, Eri! Go stand over there!"

"Dum-dee-dum"

"Okay."

"Now take a picture of my king-like pose!"

Not that it wasn't fun. It was. As an alternative to what I did, though, you could go in and actually learn something. The place is a well-arranged exhibition that goes through the details of the castle's layout and its history concerning the Hojo Clan and the battle for the Kanto region and so forth. If I write about Japanese history, it'll be for another time, though.

  There is, actually, more to see of Kawagoe, but our day trip, for all intents and purposes, ended here. We unfortunately only made it to the Kita-In Buddhist temple upon its closing, and were unable to get in and take a good look at the 500-some statues of Buddha. But if I ever make a return trip, that'll be for then.

Wait, seriously?

 After a muddled and confused walk to the train station and a brief ride, I bid Eri farewell until the day after the next, where she made me change one of our flyers at work, like, a billion times.

As if you couldn't guess, many of these photos were taken by Eri. Notably, the good ones. Credit where it's due.