Walking in Kameido

Last month, we planed a special tour to walk around Kameido area, visit two big shrines, and watch beautiful wisteria blossom, but unfortunately we didn’t get any guests on that day. It was quite sorry, but we didn’t give up easily. Our two guides walked along the course on that day and found some interesting points for a next opportunity. In this blog article, we would like to introduce the tour course.

(1)  Kameido Gyoza

Do you know “gyoza” dumpling? This is a unique restaurant which serve only gyoza dumpling. When you visit the restaurant and sit at a table, immediately two dishes of gyoza dumpling are served without (and before placing) an order. This is the unique rule of this restaurant. We don’t need to place an order, because gyoza is the only food menu they serve. Of course they provide some beverages, such as beer, sake, or some soft drinks. After finishing the first gyoza, you can order another dish of gyoza. The price of gyoza is quite reasonable, just 250 yen per dish.

(2)  Katori Shrine

One of the two big shrines in Kameido area. Originally it is a shrine which enshrines a deity of martial arts, but recently it is famous as a shrine for all sports. Famous sport athletes visit this shrine before their games. This time we found an interesting statue there. The statue of “daikon,” a white big radish. There are many kinds of white radishes in Japan. “Kameido daikon” is one of them. Now Kameido is a bustling town and dense populated area, but once it was a quiet suburban area and there were many vegetable fields and was famous for producing delicious Kameido daikon. This statue was built as a memorial to the daikon radish. There are many statues all over Japan, but a statue for a vegetable is quite rare and interesting.

(3)  Kameido Tenjin Shrine

Another and the biggest shrine in this area. This shrine was built to enshrine a famous historical bureaucrat, Michizane Sugawara (845-903). He was quite smart and competent, so he posthumously became a deity of scholarship. This shrine is also famous for beautiful wisteria flowers. We could enjoy the lovely light purple flowers. In February, we enjoy another blossom, plums.

(4)  Rice cracker “senbei” toasting

After visiting the shrines, we dropped by a rice cracker shop. This is an interesting shop. You can have a unique experience here, “rice cracker toasting! Usually, we buy made-up rice crackers at these kind of shops, but here we can try to toast rice crackers by ourselves and eat just after toasting. The shopkeeper told us that this is the only shop where we can try to toast rice crackers!

(by Chinami)

How do you like the walking in Kameido? If you like it, please contact us from here and join our free walking tours!