Category: JapanGuide

Kichijoji is a very interesting neighborhood in Tokyo which is usually ignored in many tourist guides. Manga readers maybe will recognize the streets of the neighborhood because they are usually seen in GTO and I”s among others. It is a neighborhood with a lot of “cultural movement”, it’s full of bars and music studios where bands play when they are starting out. Around the north exit of the station there are plenty of malls and smalls shops, it’s the shopping area. The northwest area is dedicated to small interior shops and the northeast area is more lively during nights: plenty of bars and love hotels.

However what I enjoy the most in Kichijoji is the south part where you can find the Ghibli Museum and Inokashira park.

My suggestions on what to do in a day in Kichijoji.
– Visit the Ghibli Museum in the morning
– Eat in a restaurant around Inokashira park.
– Go for a stroll in Inokashira park.
– Cross to the north of the station and walk around the shopping streets, eat a snack in the afternoon or even stay until late to eat dinner.

How to get there: Chuo line from Shinjuku (it’s only 10 minutes)

Near Matsumoto Castle, next to a river, there is a street plenty of small shops. The street is called “kaeru”, which in Japanese means many different things; the Japanese language has many homophone words, just like the Chinese language. The three different meanings of “kaeru” that gave name to this street in Matsumoto are: “frog” (蛙), “come back / go back home” (帰る) and “be able to shop” (買える). The locals use the name of the street referring to the three meanings, the street is full of frog statues and is full of places where they are able to shop, and after strolling along the street they go back home. It’s a really curious street and it’s on the way if you go walking from Matsumoto station to the castle.

At the beginning of the street there are some frogs with katanas welcoming visitors.

Small temple dedicated to the “frog gods”

A frog reading.

The river that flows next to the street.

There are frogs even in the beautifying fences!

Money purses like the one that Naruto owns!

One of the shops in the street, where almost anything you could imagine is on sale. Ceramics, books and vegetables, what a mix.

Alberto and I transforming into frogs.

Map of the area. The station is in the lower left part of the map, and the street of the frogs is just across the bridge in the center of the map, heading north, on the way to the castle.

Inokashira Park is a really beautiful park located in the west of Tokyo which is not as popular among tourists as other parks like Yoyogi or Shinjuku Gyoen. Many times I prefer to come to Inokashira because it’s much more quiet and some parts have a nice Japanese style touch.

Inokashira Park belonged to the imperial family but the emperor donated it as a gift to the Japanese people almost a hundred years ago. The green area of the park surrounds a quite big lake which is called Inokashira as well; at the end of the lake there is a temple dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. One of the most popular things to do in Inokashira Park is to rent a duck-shaped pedal boat. Legend has it that couples that go together into a pedal boat in Inokashira lake will see their love strengthened. If you like manga and anime maybe you will recognize Inokashira Park, as it is usually seen in series like GTO or Video Girl Ai (if I remember well there are at least a couple of romantic scenes set in one of the bridges over the lake).

The get to Inokashira Park you have go to Kichijoji station (JR Chuo line in Tokyo) and then walk five minutes south. A great way to spend a pleasant day is to combine a walk in Inokashira Park with a visit to the Ghibli Museum, which is right at the end of the park to the southwest.

Temple dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten.

This is the same temple painted in ukiyo-e by Hiroshige.

Feeding pigeons and carps at the same time.

All those trees are sakura trees that will blossom very soon.