Category: JapanGuide

The other day CaDs and I decided to explore a little bit the area north from Yamanote line. It is not one of the most interesting areas in Tokyo but there are some places that are worth a visit. We went to Komagome station and walking five minutes out of the station we arrived to Rikugi-en gardens (六義園 ,Google Maps).

The park was built at the end of the 17th century by the fifth Tokugawa shogun and has belonged to the Tokyo townhall since almost one hundred years ago. The design of the gardens emulates the landscapes of other places in Japan, for example, the lake is a representation of the coast in Kamakura. In the center, next to the lake, you can have a matcha with some candy for 500 yen.

I’ve been to Kyoto many times, walking around its avenues, alleys and temples, but for some reason up until last Summer I had never visited the Arashiyama area and Sagano. It was an amazing walk, even under the rain of the typhoon that was passing through Japanese skies that day.

We crossed the bamboo forest hearing the wind opening its path through thousands of canes several meters tall, we drank tea in the house of a great Japanese actor of the beginnings of last century, we got lost in the endless stairs leading to temples, we looked for shelter in a souvenir shop when it started to rain heavily and we crossed Tenryu-ji temple where the most beautiful things are the garden and the pond that are hidden behind the honden (main building).

Matcha and some candy to recover energies in the middle of the day.

The best way to get to the area is using the JR Sagano line from Kyoto station until Saga Arashiyama station, it takes 15 minutes.