Kawagoe is an hour (multi) train ride from our Airbnb in Horikishobuen. It is also the high school hang out of my friend, Megumu, who grew up not far from here. Kawagoe is known as Little Edo since many of the buildings here have been preserved since the Edo Period. The Edo period (1603-1867) was the final years of traditional Japanese culture, a time filled with peace, art, political stability, samurais and their swords and economic growth. Edo was the original name of Tokyo, before it became the capital. Many of the buildings here are made of wood and clay. Megumu’s family met up to walk the streets of Kawagoe. Full of shops and restaurants, Kawagoe is representative of this previous period of time. The bell tower, a symbol of the city, (shown in the fourth picture below) was originally constructed in the early 1600s. Destroyed many times by fire the current bell tower is a reconstruction from 1894.
Did A1 grow a foot while you’ve been gone. She looks so mature (and adorable) in all the photos. What a trip and how fortunate to have a ‘local’ be your guide. What a fantastic post. WOW.
She is going to be tall!
Yeah so interesting to see old Japan and happy you got to see Megumu while you were there.
Me too!