Kawagoe

6 Jul 2025

Last day here in Japan and I’ve got a black eye:

Bummer.  Fortunately, it’s not very swollen, just discolored, so when my eyes are open it’s not super apparent.  And I’ve almost always got my sunglasses on here anyway.

Despite the “late” night, I was still up bright and early so even though my temple doesn’t open until 8am, I decided to wander the streets before all the tourists woke up:

Belltower:

I loved this sign with its random beefy arm:

No tourists yet!

Stores here don’t open until 10am:

Decorative alley:

Roof details:

Kawagoe castle:

But, my shrine is open, so welcome to Hiwaka Shrine!

I got here right after opening, so I was able to get pictures without a lot of people around:

Ema tunnel:

This little snake wearing a hat was my favorite!

There was a selfie-stand, so I had to use it 🙂

This red string mural symbolizes the “Red Thread of Fate,” an invisible red thread connects a person’s pinky finger to that of their partner.

Wind chime tunnel:

When I left, this tunnel was filled with people taking selfies and holding mini photo shoots:

But this early? I’ve got it all to myself!

Windmills and torii gate:

Sweet potato?

But this is the reason I came here:

Fish fortunes!!!

The pink guys are luck in relationships:

Blue/white guys are a special summer version of the pink guys:

I went fishing for a general luck fish:

I got one!  This is my fish!!!

His fortune was average- you’re supposed to tie the bad ones on a fence and leave them behind, but his fortune is part of him, so I kept it.

Yup! Definitely worth the trip up here!

I was tempted to get one of each color, but fish are Y300 each and I’m running low on funds (at least, cash fund), so I got my temple stamp (this one was just on a sheet of paper that I’ll have to glue into my book later):

Onward!

I came across this this temple, Renkai-ji, but their stamp window wasn’t open:

Unfortunate, because I was intrigued by the triforce symbol…

So I continued on to Kumano Shrine:

I didn’t notice it yesterday, but the sides of the entrance are lined with stones that activate certain pressure points:

Yes, I took my shoes off and tried it- some were easier to walk on than others, there were quite a few that were especially pointy!

Giant crow with the story of the shrine:

I splurged and spent the last of my yen on a fancy goshuin, which they placed in a folder with a whole stack of papers:

Kawagoe Christ Church:

With all the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, I was not expecting an Anglican church.

I’ve got about 2 hours of trains between me and the airport, and while I don’t fly out until later this afternoon, I’d rather be early than rushed, so I swung by the hostel to pick up my big backpack (didn’t want to lug it around all morning and risk melting all the chocolates within), then started making my way to the train station but got distracted by fruit on a stick:

Overpriced? Probably, but it looked good and I’ve been craving fresh fruit 🙂 (though this one was covered in string sugar with candies stuck to it)

One last cover, with color!

My goal is to not have any funds left on my IC card when I leave, and while I can use it at a vending machine at the airport if need-be, a quick Google search told me I’d actually be about Y90 short on this last monorail ride:

so I quickly threw a few extra yen on my card and also officially used up the last of my data as well

(I’m actually lucky the transaction went through- I thought my big 5 GB plan was active and used my data quite liberally these past couple days- I translated EVERY sign I saw, but it was actually just my 1 GB plan, and I burned through it!)

I arrived to the airport nice and early, so I spent some time exploring the shops upstairs here and found more KitKats!

I picked out a couple more to try:

Then I went through security and found one last onigiri, tuna mayo this time, which wasn’t bad (the kelp one is still my favorite):

I still had some time to kill, so I just wandered around for a bit- I was so tempted to try this chair but by the time I spotted it, my plane was getting ready to board.  Next time.

Farewell, Tokyo.

Food on this flight wasn’t as good as the first- the noodlely dish was fine, but the cold potato-salad-slaw dish was odd:

Our only other “meal” was a pizza twist, which I’ve had on several Delta flights now and do not like.  Every one I’ve had has had some degree of freezer burn and this was no exception.  I choked it down, but only because I was hungry.  Middle-seat guy only got up once, so I used that opportunity to raid the anytime snack basket in the back and load up my pockets (I’ve gotten good at hopping over a person in the aisle without disturbing them, especially when I’m in anything that isn’t economy class, but this row was full and I didn’t want to make them move).

This wasn’t my favorite flight- the guy in front of me reclined and there’s just not enough room in economy seats- I couldn’t cross my legs without hitting the seat in front of me.  So I spent almost the entire flight kneeing his seat.  I felt bad, but my legs really just don’t fit in economy.

Note to self: just pay for the upgrade, it’s worth it.

I didn’t sleep quite as much as I hoped to, but as long as I don’t nap when I get home, I should be able to flip back into a normal schedule.

Hopefully, because I work tomorrow morning 🙂

Even though I couldn’t get any extra time off work, this trip was absolutely worth it!