Today we travel back in time to the Tokyo in the old days.. we went to a place called Kawagoe also known as Little Edo.. The weather was nice.. cool air with a little bit of sunshine.. just nice for walking around for
look-look, see-see..
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| little Adam & Opah |
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| little Sara in action |
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| Little Edo |
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| Kawagoe |
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| flowers everywhere |
Kawagoe is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, and is about a 30-minute train ride from Ikebukuro in Tokyo. As of July 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 343,926 (142,898 households). The total area is 109.16 km². Kawagoe was founded as a town Kawagoe-machi on April 1, 1889, and became the first city in the prefecture on December 1, 1922.
The city is known locally as "Little Edo" after the old name for Tokyo, "Edo". Kawagoe castle was the headquarters of the Kawagoe Domain and occupied by close aides of the Tokugawa shogunate. Most of the buildings were dismantled in the 1870s but some remained or were relocated.
Harajuku is also a fashion capital of the world, renowned for its unique street fashion. Harajuku street style is promoted in Japanese and international publications such as Kera, Tune, Gothic & Lolita Bible and Fruits. Many prominent designers and fashion ideas have sprung from Harajuku and incorporated themselves into other fashions throughout the world.Harajuku is also a large shopping district that includes international brands, its own brands, and shops selling clothes young people can afford.
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| more flowers |
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| old-school bus |
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| old post office |
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| traffic jam |
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| lamp post |
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| one of the shop |
The bus driver dropped us somewhere in the parking area in one of the backlane.. According to Mr. David, we'll be walking from there.. As we go along the main street, Mr. David explained to us the history of Kawagoe.. The historical landmark is the bell tower also known as Bell of Time..
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| one of the alley |
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| Bell of Time in the back |
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| little Adam |
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| Mr. AZ |
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| Map of the area |
The Bell of Time is a bell tower originally built by the order of Sakai Tadakatsu between 1624 and 1644. The present structure goes back to 1894, a year after the Great Fire of Kawagoe. It is a three-story tower measuring 16 meters in height. The tower has been telling time to the city's residents for 350 years and has been deemed as a symbol of the city. Currently, the bell can be heard four times a day (6 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m.)
Here, we saw a lot of unique crafts and trinkets being sold.. I was attracted the most with one of the umbrella.. Cute designs would appear when the umbrella got wet.. I was going to buy one for me until I came on to my senses.. "I am not going to use the umbrella..Somemore it's hard to take it back.." So I decided not to take it..
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| the unique umbrella |
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| you're hungry is it? |
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| posing for the camera |
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| me with my nephews |
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| trishaw japanese style |
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| artist at work |
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| us |
Then.. we get to taste the most unique ice-cream flavour.. The Sakura ice-cream!! it was nice.. it has this pear-ish taste.. but i do like it.. even little Adam.. infact the whole lot loves the ice-cream.. Me and Mr. AZ decided to share an ice-cream between the 3 of us.. In the end me and Mr. AZ only tasted once.. little Adam wallop the rest.. interesting part is.. the ice-cream didn't melt as bad as it is in our country.. the ice-cream still have it's shape till the end of our Little Edo tour..
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| ice-cream shop |
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| sakura ice-cream |
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| pear-ish taste |
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| nice! |
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| sharing the ice-cream |
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| he wallop the whole ice-cream |
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| writing the menu of the day |
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| signboard |
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| more flowers infront of the shop |
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| red tulips |
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| walking along the street |
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| infront of one of the shop |
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| waiting while we shop |
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| one of the junction |
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| the blue sky |
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| our bus for the day |
After Little Edo, we head to Harajuku.. looking forward to see all those interesting-funky-gothic-anime-dressing teenagers.. The Yoyogi Park where the bus driver dropped us was fulled with locals.. even Harajuku Station were packed.. but still no teenagers that caught our eyes.. all were normal dressing locals.. We walk all along the Harajuku Street and back to Yoyogi Park.. Only there at one corner we saw a couple of kawaii girls..
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| On the way to Harajuku Street |
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| Harajuku Alley |
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| old school motorcycle |
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| Kawaii Girls |
Harajuku ("meadow lodging") is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan.Every Sunday, moi young people dressed in a variety of styles including gothic lolita, visual kei, and decora, as well as cosplayers spend the day in Harajuku socializing. The fashion styles of these youths rarely conform to one particular style and are usually a mesh of many. Most young people gather on Jingu Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge that connects Harajuku to the neighboring Meiji Shrine area.
At one part of the Yoyogi Park entrance, stand a group of teenagers dress-up as the rock-n-roll era and dance to the music from a beat box.. bahahaha.. cuteness!! My nephews even mention that they would like to try this approach in Malaysia.. We'll see.. hihihihi..
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| rock-n-roll era |
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| Mr. AZ & little Adam |
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| watching the show |
From Harajuku, we just drive past Tokyo Tower since everybody was not interested to get down.. It's not that we were not interested.. but I think we were already tired.. and hungry since we only had our breakfast that day.. and it was almost 4 in the evening..
We decided to have and early dinner that nite.. Mr. David brought us to a Pakistani Restaurant at Ikebukuro called Marhaba.. At first the waiter was very rude to us.. I mean the whole time he served us with an annoyed face.. He only turned warm when we were paying the food.. Only after he cleaned up our table.. too late mister!! But the food was superb!! I really love the hot and spiciness.. yummeh!!
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| the Restaurant |
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| going through the menu |
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| waiting for the dinner |
That night we had to buy little Adam diapers as we have used up all the diapers that we brought.. Luckily Mammy Poko is from Japan.. And we get to buy a 30++ Mammy Poko diaper pants with Mickey Mouse designs for 1000+ yen (around RM40)..
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| Mammy Poko pants made in Japan vs. Malaysia |
