Honkawagoe – A Christmas Eve adventure

So had a friend visiting Tokyo, so time to visit the Tokyo suburbs.  And its also Christmas Eve, so time to travel back in time.  Not exactly like Scrooge because it was rather less painful for me.

So before embarking on our adventure.  Time to fortify ourselves with pokemon fuel.  My not so adventurous friend declined.

🙁

Stepping out of the station, this is what we saw.

Ok, maybe its time to explain a little bit of where we were.

Honkawagoe is a small city in the north west of Tokyo.  It is known for its traditional housing.

You see, in the past most structures in Japan were built of just wood and paper.

Which is an issue when your neighbor’s kid accidently kicks over the cooking pot.

Whoooosh goes your pretty house. So instead, if you had enough money, such as the many wealthy merchants that lived in this area, you would build study houses made of many many layers.  Which is also good when a rampaging shogun tries to get in.

And this is the main surviving street.  Repaved with fire retardant ground (i.e. ashphalt).

Some local housing.  I do find the old style of Japanese housing to possess a beautiful simplicity.  There is another problem with building these types of houses apart from fire risks though.  Wood and paper does not hold heat well.  And days and especially nights in Tokyo can get really cold. Maybe that’s why there were lots of fires before.

Local snacks, sorry I meant shops.

Local snack.  This is a cream cheese an.  Its a fish shaped pancake, maybe you can see parts of it from the un-eaten bits.  Usually with red bean in the middle, but this time it was with something more special!

Local bike shop.

Anyway, after a bit of feeding, and sight seeing, we strolled down the street to visit the bell tower.

And the ancient bell tower.  Burnt down a couple of times because of naughty neighbours (you really ought to watch your kids).

Rebuilt each time too.  Cause otherwise, how do you tell the time??

And a local resident.  He wasn’t so impressed by the bell tower.

This is the lunch location.  And a friendly chameleon was there to welcome you in.

And this is the start, yaki tamago (fried egg).

And the main event.  Unaju (eel on rice).

What a way to end!

Until next time.

And Merry Christmas to all.