 Kawagoe (川越市), Japan
Kawagoe at festival time
Author: Kounosu (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Kawagoe (川越市) is a small city in Saitama Prefecture, about 30 minutes by train from Tokyo. It was founded as a town in 1889, and was granted city status in 1922.
Kawagoe is best known for its period-style architecture that line its old town. These beautifully preserved houses have given Kawagoe the nickname of "Little Edo", as it still maintains the feudal-period atmosphere generally gone elsewhere. These period houses, called kurazukuri or simply kura houses, have thick clay walls, double doors, heavy shuttles, and beautiful period tiles on their roofs.
The kura were formerly shops and warehouses, and continue today as a tourist attraction of the city. There are still some 30 kura in Kawagoe today.
During the Edo period, the headquarters of the Kawagoe Domain, the local fiefdom, was at Kawagoe Castle, occupied by aides of the Tokugawa shogun.
Kura houses of Kawagoe with the Toki no Kane belltower
Author: Ruizo (Creative Commons Attribution 1.0 Generic)
Planning your trip to Kawagoe
Take the Tobu Tojo Line from Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo. The journey takes about 30 minutes and costs ¥450.
Exploring Kawagoe
The old section of Kawagoe is small enough for you to explore on foot.
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Places of Interest in Kawagoe
- Confectionery Row
Old fashioned shopping street with a dozen stores selling traditional candies.
- Kurazukuri Street
A section of the old town with 19th century kurazukuri houses
- Toki no Kane
"The Bell of Time," this is a bell tower built by the order of Sakai Tadakatsu between 1624 and 1644.
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Planning a vacation in Japan?
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Japan is a country of astounding contrast and beauty. With this website, I want to take you on an armchair journey to explore it from length to length, visiting every prefecture, every city, to admire all the sights - and doing so from the comfort of home. Whether you are viewing this website as preparation for a visit to Japan, or simply browsing it for fun, I hope you will derive lots of viewing pleasure.
Accommodation usually consumes a large proportion of any travel budget. So if you are traveling to Japan (or elsewhere), it is prudent to do a bit of research, to find the lowest rate for your hotel room. Different booking sites offer the same room at a different rate, so it pays to compare. To take away the tediousness of visiting different sites, use a hotel search engine, like the one on this page. Just key in your destination and travel period, and it will show you the best price among all major online booking sites. This guarantees you the lowest price every time.
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The official currency in Japan is the Japanese Yen (JPY). Here's latest exchange rates in the last 24-hours.
Lastly, let me line up a selection of books which you may want to read ahead of your trip. You can get them directly from Amazon.
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