Day trip from Tokyo to Kawagoe | japan-guide.com

Streets lined with centuries-old buildings, vendors selling traditional street food and crafts, a storied temple just around the next corner. Traveling in Japan today, charming historical districts have become somewhat rare gems to find amongst the concrete urban expanses of the country's modern cities. But the city of Kawagoe is one such place. Located just half an hour north of Tokyo via the Tobu Railway, Kawagoe was a booming trade hub during Japan's Edo period. Merchants built the town's wealth serving nearby Edo, now called Tokyo, and showed off their success through architecture, creating an impressive and still well-preserved merchant district. Combined with the town's other fascinating historical sites, as well as some fun food and shopping choices, Kawagoe is a great day trip idea for those staying in Tokyo looking for an interesting escape to the past. I'm Joe Mignano, web developer and staff writer for JapanGuide.com, and today I'm on assignment in the historical merchant town of Kawagoe. Here's the plan. I'll start at Ikebukuro Station in central Tokyo and ride for about half an hour to Kawagoeshi Station. From the station, I'll walk to the famous Kitain Temple before heading on towards the old merchant district. Once there, I'll explore a little bit before ducking into a restaurant for a traditional lunch, and then head over to Candy Alley to try out some local sweets. Afterwards, I'll visit Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine before finally returning to the station and back to Tokyo. So follow along on our day trip from Tokyo to captivating Kawagoe. We've just arrived at Kawagoeshi Station. We'll be on foot today, so let's make the 15-minute walk to Kitain Temple. This is Kitain Temple. The history here is really fascinating. In the Edo era, this temple actually burned to the ground, but the head priest at the time was friends with the shogun. After the fire, the shogun held this temple in such high regard that he ordered buildings from his own palace in Tokyo be moved here as replacements. Today, the castle in Tokyo is gone, which makes these buildings the only surviving buildings from Edo Castle Palace. So why was Kawagoe so important? Merchants. Trade routes in this area used to move lots of goods into Tokyo, and this city was a major hub, so merchants here got really wealthy. Normally, merchants might save up and build themselves one warehouse made of stone or clay to store their goods and protect against fire called a kura, but they're really expensive. The merchants here did so well, they built their entire shops like kura. So we just sat down for lunch, and this looks amazing. We have a variety of foods here. It looks like we've got some squid sashimi, yuba made from tofu skin, and of course, being Kawagoe, they've given us some grilled sweet potato or imo. Kura-tani. It's good. From the restaurant, it's a short five-minute walk to Candy Alley. After the great Kanto earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923, this tiny neighborhood's shops found success supplying candy to the hard-hit capital. At its height, the alley boasted around 70 shops. Today, the shops lining this little street still sell plenty of local sweets and snacks. Definitely worth a stroll when you're in town. The final stop today is at Kawagoe Hikawa Jinja, an ancient shrine dating back to the 6th century. Today, this charming, well-maintained shrine attracts visitors who come to pray for luck and love, and also to purify their minds and hearts. Thanks for joining me on this brief Kawagoe day trip. I hope this video has been enjoyable and maybe offers some inspiration for your own side trip from Tokyo. For more information about Kawagoe or to watch another video, click the links on the screen now or head over to japan-guide.com, your comprehensive, up-to-date travel guide first-hand from Japan. Thanks for watching. Be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell for more videos about Japan. Happy travels!