Kichijoji: Tokyo's Hidden Neighborhoods You've Never Explored #3

Many of Tokyo's neighborhoods don't make it to travel guides. They are places where locals live and their daily lives. Not full of tourist attractions and maybe not the Japan you first imagined. But after your second or third visit you might find them more fun. Today I'd like to explore the town more and more travelers have started to notice. But the town is still mostly filled with local Japanese that most of the tourists don't make it here. Today let's explore Kichijoji. Hello friends, how have you been today? Today I came to Kichijoji station. It's about 50 minutes by Chuo line from Shinjuku station. And it's definitely not an off the beaten path among Japanese people and but still it's not a major spot among international travelers to visit. So today I'd like to explore Kichijoji and try to look for somewhere a little quiet around this neighborhood. Very nice sunny day in May. Today is May 13th. Yeah there are some traditional shops like Zori Hiketa shop too. Lots of food, meat shop, grocery shops. So usually if you come on the weekend it's so busy and I don't notice many things. But today it's weekdays and still not that many. I can walk a little more relaxed. So maybe when you visit it's better to come on the weekdays instead. This is where Tokyo department store is. And behind the Tokyo department store there are lots of nice little shops. Looks like there's a curry shop here. Rojira curry samurai. I wonder if it's open. Oh it's open. Hokkaido Sapporo soup curry. Rojira curry samurai. I'd like to have a homemade lassi. Lassi? Yes. The plain one has the best yogurt taste. You can make your own yogurt. I see. Thank you very much. This is 20 digital, 376 yen. This is the one I ordered. And you can choose how spicy it is. It's good. It's very sour. I somehow misunderstood that this store is only in Kichijoji. But it was a chain restaurant from Hokkaido. And they even have a store in Okinawa. Soup curry has developed in Hokkaido. And it warms up. And also you can consume lots of vegetables. And it's supposed to be healthy. And this one I ordered zero spice. But usually when you order zero spice in curry shop it's a little bit spicy. But this one was really no spice. It's like more sweet. So it was really different from what I expected. But this fried gobo root stick was good. So you can't exclude curry. Something you have to be careful. So it looks like this street continues further to the residential areas. A little coffee stand. Rivest Gallery. Craft Soy Milk Factory. Interesting. Craft Soy Milk Factory. They are squeezing soy milk. Soypresso, not espresso. Soypresso, interesting. It says this store is from Taiwan. Flying Tiger. So many nice little stores. Tiny Ponta Coffee. Coffee and coffee beans. Looks like this is a popular coffee shop. So let's try. Looks like we go up these stairs. Oh, this one. Wow. It's so thin. Oh, here. I'll say the rooftop balcony. Wow. Very, very small tiny island. We can come up to this balcony of the coffee shop. It's nice. Very hot, so I can't stay long. But very nice. It was 450 yen. Really good. Watch your step. It was very hot, but very good. So let's go back to the city center. Komagura Cafe. Lots of little coffee shops. Robbers. Men's only hair salon. Popular restaurant. Pilates. From Australia. The address here is Kishijoji Honcho of Musashino City. So there are lots of different little stores and restaurants around this residential area. There's a nice flat. Kishijoji Park since 1939. The name Kishijoji is coming from the temple. Kishijoji Temple. Right now, Kishijoji itself doesn't exist. But Kishijoji has some shrines and temples, so let's try to see some of them. This is Kishijoji Station. And I walk to this way for the curry shop. And I just had a coffee around here. And now I came here to where the Musashino Hachimangu Shrine is. Later, I walk towards this way and let's head towards Inogashira Park. Very quiet. And nice. So much smell of the greens. Really coming up. Like wet green smell. Kishijoji Udo. There around this shrine was a thriving agricultural zone since the Edo period. And this Udo is one of the few vegetables native in Japan. This is the other side of the Kishijoji Sun Lord, the main street, main arcade street. Arasada Tokyo. They have a different selection of donuts. Arasada Tokyo. Donut shop. There's a temple here. Maybe they're under construction. That's Yodobashi. It used to be a Kintetsu department store. Kishijoji always has been a number one popular spot to live in around Tokyo. And always nominated as a most ideal place to live. Lots of stores and lots of greens. There's a really nice park. And explanation how Kishijoji started. Perfect. There used to be four villages. And they merged those four villages and it became Musashino Village in 1889. And in 1947 it became Musashino City. Okay, so Kishijoji is originally the name of Kishijoji but now it doesn't exist anymore in Kishijoji and it was moved to Komagome in central Tokyo after that fire of 1658. A little pump. I wonder if it comes out. Nothing came out. A little bamboo forest. Maybe they have a baby. They look so alive. There's a donut. Very soft. Isn't this new actually? 7-Eleven pizza. 20 centimeters and they cook after you order and it's ready in two minutes. Belgian house. Looks like lots of shops in this. Nice building. Looks like night time bars. Gessoji Sotoshuchi Temple. This little street called Penny Lane. This used to be Isetan here. Now we are back to this Diagon. Lots of street food here. This is a famous Menchikado shop. So I got this. Sato's Menchikatsu. It's a very popular one. I'd like to try somewhere later. Behind me is Harmonica Yokocho. It's a place, little alley with lots of drinking place and shops. Let's walk through. Harmonica. Like Okinawa shop. This is Harmonica Yokocho. Narrow alley is just outside Gessoji station. Packed with tiny bars and food stores. It used to be a post-war black market. Lots of place to drink. So now this is the other side of the Kichijoji station. South side of Kichijoji. In the small street lots of buses pass by. So this side of the town is definitely more laid back and more green and relaxing. Live coffee. That's nice. Ok, now let's walk towards Inogashira Park. ¥74,000. For 25 minutes walk from Kichijoji station. It's a quiet residential neighborhood. There's Edelbin. And ahead is Inogashira Park. It's a cafe, salon and bar. ARG. It's a very nice coffee shop. It will soon become a bar at night. Creme Brulee, Caramel Nut. Nice restaurant. ¥72,000. This kicks in for ¥3300. This is Inogashira Park. Starbucks. This is the main street. Main approach from Kichijoji station to Inogashira Park. And this is a famous yakitori store. It's closed today. This is Ryotei Toriyoshi. It says today full booked reservation. That's very nice. Nice breeze. Very nice breeze is coming in. So this is Kichijoji station. And this is Inogashira Park. And this is Inogashira Koen Station, which means park station. So today I'd like to go back to finish this video here. Before that, let's explore a little bit of the park and eat the menchi-katsu we bought. There's a Ghibli museum here, but you need a reservation. Let's eat menchi-katsu. Menchi-katsu. Lots of ingredients. Meat and onion. Probably it's better right after it's cooked, but still very good. Let's get a drink. Yakushima Oolong tea. Now let's head towards Inogashira Koen Station. The water is reflecting to the leaves. Very nice. I wonder what this lots of white flowers. Very nice. And this is the start of Kandagawa River that we see in central Tokyo. We change the name to Zenpukuji River, and it merges into Sumida River. This is the origin, the start point of the Kanda River. I'm scared. Now we are coming close to Inogashira Koen Station of the Keio Inogashira Line. Nice stream here. The start of Kandagawa River. So now, Inogashira Koen Station of Keio Inogashira Line. I'd like to finish up my video here. Today I walked to Kichijoji and I hope I could show you some quiet part of Kichijoji too. If you have a chance to visit Tokyo, I hope you can visit. Have a great trip to Tokyo.