Memories of visiting Japan’s “Little Edo”

Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, also known as "Little Edo", is by far the ancient town that best embodies the atmosphere of the Edo period.

In April 2017, we stayed in Shinjuku when traveling in Japan. It is very convenient to go from Shinjuku to Kawagoe. It is just one car away from the Seibu-Shinjuku Line.

After getting off the bus, we walked to the central area. The central area is an old street with a clock tower and traditional Tibetan-style buildings.

This is the most famous bell tower in Kawagoe. It is said to have a history of more than 400 years. Now it rings the bell four times a day. There are many tourists checking in here.

Tibetan-style buildings are all two-story buildings. Many of them only have shops downstairs, but there are also many that have shops both upstairs and downstairs. There is a store that looks small from the outside. After entering, I realize that the store is very large. It turns out that the building facing the street is seamlessly connected to the building behind it. The area has increased several times, but the decoration style is the same. It is used both upstairs and downstairs. Very impressive in business.

The following photos were taken in the old street.

We met several ladies wearing kimonos and men wearing Japanese samurai costumes on the street, which gave us the illusion that someone had traveled through time and space in the movie.

As an ancient town, Kawagoe naturally has many ancient temples and shrines. One of the temples we entered has two cherry blossom trees that may be hundreds of years old. They are almost 20 meters high, with lush branches and flowers, and are spectacular. .

There are many courtyards shaded by greenery in Kawagoe. In front of one courtyard, we actually saw many beautiful koi carps raised in the clear water of a ditch on the roadside. We were amazed!

When we were two or three stations away from Kawagoe, my daughter discovered that there was a large cherry blossom forest next to a winding river not far from the railway, so on the way back we improvised and got off the bus and walked along the It takes about 20 minutes to walk along relatively simple roads and country roads to view and take photos in this cherry blossom forest.

What surprised my wife and me even more was that on the way back to Shinjuku, we saw a short old lady holding a baby stroller. Our first reaction was that there must be something lying on the baby stroller. It was her grandson or granddaughter, but when we took a closer look, it turned out that there was a puppy under the small blanket. The puppy was lying quietly with its eyes slightly narrowed. It did not make any noise or bark, and was extremely well-behaved. The old man saw our surprised faces, smiled at us very friendly and nodded.

(The photos in this article were all taken by me with my mobile phone. Some of the photos are not clear enough. Please forgive me.

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