Kagurazaka

Day 16 (-15)
Specialisation. The way many businesses in Japan serve or prepare only one thing results in great detail and variety in food and products. This shop sells pickled vegetables, cucumber rakkyo (tiny onions) and it was just one of many specialising in garlic, onions, sembe (rice crackers) tea, or potato.

Today we are at the edge of a typhoon coming up the country, so had rain on and off all day. This time I did not wear my pink shoes, so they may last a bit longer. I had planned to do two chores first, change my airline ticket and give notice at the apartment, but I was able to do both these by phone. So we started by heading for Iidabashi and Kagurazaka, one of several place in Tokyo still with a touch of the Shitamachi. (low town) In its heyday it was renowned as a geisha district with many renowned geisha houses and ryotei (restaurants) of which a few remain in the cobbled lanes. There are a variety of shops selling traditional goods, like split toe socks for kimono slippers, geisha wigs and kimono as well as lacquer ware and blue china.
It was too wet to have lunch at the canal cafe as we planned so instead we headed off to Sugamo, where the shops sell clothing, traditional foods, domestic wares, and reading material that cater specifically to the older generation. Older people from all over Tokyo and surrounding areas come to Jizo-dori for their shopping. The place is popularly known as “Harajuku for Grannies” (Harajuku being a popular shopping street for the young) because of the large number of seniors that visit it.


Since Jizo-dori and the rest of the surrounding area are mainly visited by older people, the authorities have taken care in building the area accordingly. The guide-board and rate-tables at the Station are all hand written and placed at eye-level and ticket machines are set lower. The pavements around the station and the rest of the area are flat and the streets have textured bricks to prevent slip. The area also has several places of rest with covered roofs. Even the advertisements in Sugamo cater to the elderly - information for daily life and advice related to health. All shops at Jizo-dori and the rest of Sugamo are also barrier-free, making it easy for the elderly with canes, walkers, or wheelchairs to enter and move around. Restaurants have food displays with prices rather than menus, which are easier for the elderly to understand.

The most famous shops in Sugamo are the traditional cake shops and the clothing store Maruji. Maruji is popular for its red underwear that are coveted items among older women. These bright red undershirts and underpants, are considered lucky, besides being warm and comfortable; Maruji found it impossible to cater to the demand with just one shop, so now they have four stores at Jizo-dori.

At the traditional cake shops, the most popular item is the shio-daifuku - which is a rice ball with a sweet red bean paste at the center – for which Sugamo is famous, but we did not try this (have a treat planned in Ginza)

We ended up travelling back south by the Arakawa Railway Tram line,(previous Blog) to Kishibojimae station and then traveling on the newest line, the Futokoshin line to Shibuya, where there was this glass wall (right).