TOUR
KYOJIMA ~ A Good - Old Neighborhood in Tokyo
Date
Shown on the calendar
Time
10 : 00 AM to 3 : 00 PM
(Meet at Hikifune station on Tobu Skytree Line)
Highlights
・One-hour walk in a nicely aged neighborhood
・Take a look at a local shopping street in a time warp
・Lunch or coffee at a cafe beautifully turned from 70-year-old building
・Calligraphy experience in an soul-soothing Japanese-style art space
Price
3,000 yen / person
5,000 yen / couple
1,500 yen / under 18 years old
(Lunch is not included)
You probably have never heard of this neighborhood, Kyojima since it's not a very touristy place even though it's just 10 minutes walk from one of popular destinations for tourists, TOKYO SKYTREE. You never miss the highest tower in the world from Kyojima but you could get caught in a time warp there. This area didn't have any damage from war and there remains the atmosphere of how ordinary people in Tokyo used to live.
Kyojima might have been a place which had been left out in the period Japan was obsessed with economic growth but tables are turned. People have been looking for different lifestyle since working like a dog has not gotten them nowhere and some people have found this neighborhood an oasis of nostalgia.
There remains the atmosphere of good-old days of Japan in this area, where neighbors bonds with each other and enjoy a sense of unity and security. Even Japanese from outside are not always welcome but outsiders still feel secure, exposed to the core of Japan's nature while they get around here.
There is also another movement going on here. Some people who are attracted to this atmosphere have been moving to around this area and opened small shops, like cafes, bars or craft shops, renovating old buildings. The guide will take you to one of those shops for lunch. The name is "Tenshin-an", which means "a hermitage of the artless sincerity", and their specialties are soba (buckwheat) noodles and coffee. Enjoy their hand-made soba noodles. How about home roasting coffee if you're full since you'll have tried some local foods in a shopping street, which also has kept pre-war atmosphere, that we go to as the part of the walking tour. Lunch and coffee is not included in the tour price.
Not only has the cafe wonderfully renovated a 70-year former office but also their cups, dishes and some interior decorations are hand-crafted by artists. The owner couple used to run an art gallery and support a lot of artists so many of them helped the cafe with its completion.
One more activity. The cafe also has an spiritually-uplifting art space upstairs. Why not take advantage of that and enjoy cultural activities? We're going to have you have Japanese calligraphy experience, in which you could look to some examples or you could run a brush freely on a big piece of paper.
Below is Tenshin-an's website (written in Japanese) :