Kawagoe - an old city with much food + Korean Town

Kawagoe - at first pretty normal

When I first heard that Kawagoe is an old city, I imagined that all buildings would be in an ancient Japanese Style and everything else would also look like its coming from the past. But in real, it was just a normal and small city with some old houses from a previous era. But still beautiful :)

so much !!!!

The trip today was in summary a food shopping tour. Usually, I don't like shopping tours that much, but this one was special. Because nearly every store sold food and for this, they had samples from most of the things you could buy.

Always with style - onions in wine

It was awesome to try so much new food, from spicy stuff over onions in wine to sweets. The last ones contained mostly sugar but also different kinds of taste like green tea. Of course, I bought some "examples" :D


To refresh ourselves, we bought some cucumber on a stick, it was very funny to eat it. If you think about it, it's better than anything else against thirst. Over 90% are water, it's healthy and it doesn't melt you away. And because you chew it, it's even better against thirst ^^

Cucumber on a stick - awesome Japanese food invention ^^

Grilling Onigiri - is it really so easy as it looks?

After "shopping" / eating more samples, we had lunch and bought some grilled Onigiri with some kind of chipping, made out of fish. Because of this fish chipping, it was very salty and hard to eat without blowing the half of it away with my own breath :D

The final result - Grilled Onigiri with fish chipping
(don't know a better name for it :D)

The Crew ;)

A few minutes later , we went to a shrine with a high bell tower. It's famous but unfortunately I don't know the name anymore and right now I'm to tired to search for it ;)
 
In this one, I prayed for my first time in Japan with the correct gestures. Some of you know that I'm not religious but I do believe that everything in the world is connected, also in a spiritual way. That's why I still think that a bit help from above can just help ;)



We also went to another big temple which is famous for its big gate, but I also forgot the name oO
At the same time when we arrived, a wedding ceremony was held, so I could see more of Japanese culture ^^ But to be honest, I didn't saw much, just like everyone was standing outside and some priests walking around.

I was most impressed by the little tunnel out of these wooden plates where everyone can write their wishes on. Unbelievable how many people were here and entrusted their wishes to this place :)

The tunnel

After more sightseeing and shopping we went to Korea Town of Tokyo :)
You really see there that Japanese people love Korean things. Maybe like Germans love Asian things in general ;)

Tasty, right?

At first, we had dinner in a restaurant. I don't know if its a Korean thing, but we had this hot plate, you see in the picture, and on it we, or better said the waiter, fried the pork meat and the Kimchi (kind of vegetable). We also ordered some additional stuff and it wasn't expensive. So really something I have to remember :D An it's another proof that Japanese love meat, it was so crowded ;)

And this is how you eat it
more pictures of the food are at the end ^^

Goods, Goods, Goods

We went after this to a store where mostly CDs, DVDs and goods from Korean singers and music groups were sold. The target groups seemed to be young girls, because you saw in general only pictures from male singers. But I know Korean stuff, especially the music, or better said the male singers, are very popular in Germany, so I made some extra pictures for our female readers ;)

More like a gallery, than a shop, am I right? ;)

 

The ground floor from above

At last, we went into a Korean supermarket, which was also crowded. Again, a proof that Japanese people looove Korean stuff :D I thought about buying something, but in the end, I hadn't found something. Maybe next time :D

The Korean Supermarket

Great district, will come again ^^

After this looong but also exciting day, we went home and when I was at home I just fell into bed :D
Because I took more photos than I could read, here more impressions of the day:

Never saw the tree of the Pomegranate (dt. Granatapfel) before

As always, I'm impressed by the Japanese style of painting :)

vending machine - the advertised manga comic actually
take place in Kawagoe :)

More Food - More Samples :D

I really didn't know what to pick
I want everything ;)

And more samples
Man, you can whole meals just by taking the samples ^^

Part of our dinner - glass noodles and some meat and vegetables

The white stuff is made out of wheaten paste

Rice with Vegetables and Cheese on the top :)

Korea Town - a normal day ;)

Dammit, what should I pick?