Matcha green tea and wasanbon making experience in a Japanese garden + Kawagoe stroll
It is easily accessible, only 30 minutes from central Tokyo. The town still retains the atmosphere of Edo (old Tokyo), and you can enjoy various historical buildings, delicious food, and nature that create a townscape of warehouse-like building.
Start
Ikebukuro station
Ikebukuro Station - Kawagoe City Sta. (Tobu Tojo Line: about 30 minutes) → Kawagoe-shi Station ... Tantoku Garden (5 min. walk)
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Experience Japanese culture in your own "old" private Japansese house!
Matcha green tea experience and making wasanbon (Tantoku Garden)
Tantoku, a lumber merchant, was founded in 1869 in Rokken-cho, Kawagoe city. The hare" built by Tokujiro Suzuki, the first generation, and the 200 tsubos (1,860 ㎡) karesansui (dry landscape garden) are open to the public.
15min.
12:15 PM - 2:30 PM
Stroll in Kawagoe, a town of warehouses
The "Toki no Kane" (Time Bell Tower) is located right in the center of the warehouse-styled townscape. The current bell is the fourth generation, reconstructed right after the Great Kawagoe Fire of 1893. Also called "Kanezukido" (bell tower), it has been watching over the people of Kawagoe since ancient times. The "kura-zukuri rows" (storehouses) are lined with stately and luxurious kura-zukuri merchant houses with black plaster walls. The characteristic of kura-zukuri in Kawagoe is that they are not warehouses, but "storehouses" in which stores are built as
20min.
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine
Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine is famous as the god of marriage. It is said to attract not only love, but also family, friends, and work. There are many cute gifts that will tickle the hearts of young ladies, such as the "Aka-en brush" with a red thread motif and the "Tai-mikuji (sea bream fortune)". In recent years, a summer-only festival called "Enmusubi Fu-ring" has been held, and a "Fu-ring corridor" with more than 2,000 colorful handmade Edo-style wind-bells has been decorated on the temple grounds. https://en.chocotabi-saitama.jp/spot/20884
Kawagoe, a town of warehouses - Honkawagoe Sta.(Bus: 10min) → Honkawagoe -Tokorozawa (Seibu-Shinjuku Line Express: 20 min.) → Tokorozawa - Ikebukuro(Seibu-Ikebukuro Line 25min.)
Goal
Ikebukuro station