Amazing wonderland Toyosu

Toyosu is an artificial island facing Tokyo Bay. It is the center of the coastal area located to the south of the heart of Tokyo. It is seven minutes from Ginza, the most famous shopping area in Japan, by Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line. It has become a remarkably developing area in Tokyo with such a good location.

But, how much do you know about this area?

Maybe, many people know about Toyosu Market. The famous Tsukiji Fish Market was relocated to Toyosu in October 2018 and it reopened as Toyosu Market. We offer free English-guided walking tour of Toyosu Market as course D: Explore World’s Largest Wholesale Fish Market. You will surely be excited to see the dynamic tuna auction. Website: https://kev.jp/coursesTop.html

　　

Tuna auction
(Photo courtesy: Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market)

Toyosu Market panoramic view
(Photo courtesy: Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market)

However, there are a lot of attractive spots to see besides that. Let’s learn and explore Toyosu. This area was in the sea until nearly 100 years ago. With he development of Japan, it was born as a man-made island in 1937. It was named “Toyosu” with the wish to “become a prosperous land.” It started as a shipyard town with big shipbuilding company IHI. After the end of the war, it was functioning as an industrial area.  Besides IHI, big factories such as TEPCO’s new Tokyo Thermal Power Station and Tokyo Gas Toyosu Factory operated. This area supported Japan’s postwar high economic growth.

In the 1980’s, these factories were relocated to rural areas due to changes in the industrial structure and this area was redeveloped as a complex town.  It has become a complex area with business, housing and entertainment in just over 20 years. Those functions gathered within just a few kilometers square.

Toyosu Shipyard in the 1960s
(Photo courtesy: Tokyo Port Promotion Association)

Recent scenery of former Toyosu Shipyard

As a business area, head offices of large companies such as IHI, Nihon Unisys, Maruha Nichiro, NTT Data gathered and many modern office buildings were built here. A large skyscraper opened this spring and is directly connected to Metro Toyosu Station.

Office building along the Harumi street

Large skyscraper connecting to the Metro

As a housing area, many high-rise condominiums and apartments were built within 20 years and they are located near office buildings and entertainment facilities. One large high-rise condominium is still under construction near Toyosu station.

Condominiums along the canal

Condominiums next to Lalaport Toyosu

As a result of becoming an area for both working and living, Toyosu Station has the seventh largest number of passengers in the Tokyo Metro area after Shinjuku Station in 2019, and is larger than Shibuya Station.

Can you believe it?

As entertainment area, many attractive entertainment facilities are opening one after another. Lalaport Toyosu, one of the largest shopping malls in central Tokyo, opened in 2006 and has become one of the most popular shopping malls. It was directly connected to Metro Toyosu station this spring and is always crowded with visitors. It faces Tokyo Bay and the sunset and night view are beautiful.

Lalaport Toyosu   

Sunset and night view from Lalaport Toyosu

Some unique amusement facilities have been established in the new area called Shin-Toyosu. It is about 10 minutes from Toyosu Station. TeamLab Planets is a museum where you walk through water. It consists of 4 vast exhibition spaces with 7 distinct artworks. The artworks are surprising.  

There are also two unique theaters, Toyosu PIT and IHI STAGE AROUND TOKYO. They have unique performances. There are also popular barbecue venues and sports facilities there. Shin-Toyosu is a new attractive spot in Toyosu area. Of course, don’t forget that you can have a wonderful experience at Toyosu Market.

TeamLab Planets 

Shin-Toyosu scenery

Toyosu is also full of nature. There are two large parks. One is Toyosu park and the other is Toyosu Gururi Park.  Toyosu Park is located next to Lalaport Toyosu and has an open space facing Tokyo Bay and the lawn plaza is always crowded with parents and children. It is a scenic park where drama locations and commercials are often shot.

Toyosu Gururi Park has a total length of 4.5 km around Toyosu Pier. You can enjoy walking and running there. At the tip, you can see the Tokyo Tower, the Rainbow Bridge and the skyscrapers in the bay area which is one of the best views in Tokyo. The park has also a large barbecue venue and nice open terrace restaurants, making it a popular spot.  Our blog in October introduced Toyosu Gururi Park in detail, so please take a look.

Toyosu Park

Toyosu Gururi Park

The landscape of this area continues to change rapidly and dynamically. Toyosu is now one of the leading areas in Tokyo with highly convenient facilities for daily living in a beautiful landscape. It has grown into a popular area and has become a comfortable area to live and work. It is expected that Toyosu will become even more attractive in the future. But there is also a nostalgic park just off the main street. You may feel nostalgia there. By the way, do you know that the first 7-Eleven store in Japan, which has more than 20,000 stores, was opened in Toyosu in 1974?

By Isao

The first 7-Eleven store

Nostalgic park just off the main street

　　 

        　　

Let’s visit a water front park in Koto City.

There are about 300 parks in Koto City. This section introduces one of the newest parks in Toyosu area, “Toyosu Gururi Park”. 

Gururi Park is a 5-kilometer-long park designed to allow visitors to walk around the outside of the Toyosu Pier where Toyosu Market is located, just as the name of Gururi literally means surroundings. It is an open park facing Tokyo Bay. Visitors can not also enjoy walking and jogging but get nice views of Tokyo Tower and a group of high-rise apartment buildings on the opposite side of the bay, as well as Tokyo Sky Tree in the distance, and also Tokyo Rainbow Bridge at the tip of the park. It’s least exaggeration to say that this is the park with the best view in Koto City. This time, let’s trace this park in a clockwise direction starting near Toyosu Nishi Elementary School and ending at Toyosu Park. In addition, it would be a good idea to bring some drinks or snacks before the start beforehand as there aren’t any convenience stores along the park route. The nearest station to the start point(K01) is Shin Toyosu Station(Yurikamome Line). 

There are distance indication signs standing on the parkway that show distances every 400m, so please take a look at them. You walk about 800 meters (K03) and you will see the "Ariake Arena" on the opposite shore. 

This is the indoor stadium where volleyball and wheelchair basketball competitions will be held at the Tokyo Olympics. It is characterized by its concave-like curved roof. If the roof were to be dome-shaped like a typical arena, the sun's rays would be reflected in the surrounding apartments all day long, so the center of the roof is concave, making it "curved". You walk down a little further(K04), you will see “Ariake Gymnastics Centre”, where gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and boccia competitions are held at the Tokyo Olympics. 

The roof, exterior and spectator's seats are made of wood, in keeping with the concept of a "wooden vessel floating in the Tokyo bay area", which is appropriate for its former location as a lumberyard. Further along, around the tip of the Toyosu Pier, the view changes dramatically as the Tokyo Rainbow Bridge comes into view. 

Many people can be seen fishing and enjoying a BBQ at the facility on the right (K07). 

You can enjoy BBQ without any prepared forehand. Fishing and BBQ with a view of the Tokyo Rainbow Bridge, what a luxury! If you go around the tip perfectly(K08), you will see many buildings. You can catch a glimpse of Tokyo Tower through the gap of them, and if you look further to the right, you can catch a glimpse of Tokyo Sky Tree at the same time.

If you want a more splendid view, you can climb “Rooftop Garden” on the roof of Toyosu Market on your right hand. You can use the elevators directly connected to “Rooftop Garden” from the park (the long, white building is the elevator building). 

On a clear day, you can even see Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, from there. You walk down a little further(K11) and at the time when you see a colorful building in the front distance, you almost reach the goal. 

Near the goal, you will see a shopping center complex built on the site of a former shipbuilding factory, which is crowded with many people. You will reach the goal at the distance sign K13.

It seems to be a very short and fun 5km. Along the way, you can take a break and enjoy a meal outdoors, so you will be able to spend a very relaxing time there. After the finish line, you can enjoy shopping in the shopping complex, or you can use the bike sharing service (bike rental) to go further afield. You can also board a boat from the former dock near the finish line and travel to Odaiba, Hamamatsucho and Asakusa. The night view is also highly recommended. Just enjoy the view of the city center and the sense of freedom that makes you believe you are in the heart of the city. 

ATSUGI, Takeshi

New Japanese Sake Season

 

We are now planning two more new courses; one is Japanese sake and the other is tea ceremony. Here, I would like to give you a little information of Japanese sake.

 October 1^st is like New Year’s Day for Japanese sake.

Why? Please remember the growing cycle of rice that is one of the ingredients of Japanese sake. As sake rice is harvested in autumn, September to October, most of sake breweries usually start to produce in October. The sake brewing does not always start on October 1^st, however, the day is special for the breweries to celebrate the start of sake production season. They pray at a shrine for the safety and success of the sake brewing of the year, and then prepare, clean and check the tools and devices they use. This is one of the reasons for which the day was designated as “Nihonshu no Hi” or the day of Japanese Sake by the Japanese Sake and Shochu Makers Association in 1978.

Many Japanese-sake-day-related events and celebrations are held all over the country, or the world on that day. Especially “Kampai (or cheers) with Japanese sake” has been encouraged.

 New sake or fresh sake that is to be brewed this year will be on sale from around late November or December. Why don’t you have a taste one if you have a chance? Of course, it would be happy if you join our tour to find something and talk about sake!

 

 

Shall we "Bon" dance?

Let's enjoy the summer evening with traditional Japanese dance with us.

We will have a special free tour to join the Bon-odori dance event in the evening of August 25th, Sunday

You might have heard amusing music and sound of drumming around parks or squares in the evening in this season. Yes, it is bon-odori.
Originally, the dance was meant to entertain our ancestors. In Buddhist belief, their spirits come home to their family during this period of time called obon.

Now, the Japanese people of all ages just enjoy bon-odori. Anybody can join freely, and the dancing movement is very sim
ple.
We will give you a quick lesson and let's go dancing! The tour is free of charge.
It's also fun to eat, drink and play games at various stalls.

Tour details:
Date and Time : 6:00 p.m, August 25th
Meeting Place : Outside of No.1 exit of Monzen-Nakacho stationon (T12) of the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line.
Duration : About two hours. We might also visit sake stand bar. Or you can just keep dancing!
Booking : Our web site.  From 'Contact Us' page, select "S: Special Course."

Jizo Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)

Beaming a warm smile, a statue sits peacefully at a Tokyo temple as children
are playing and jumping cheerfully around in a nearby kindergarten ground on a sunny day.

Reiganji Temple's Jizo Statue

The 2.73-meter (9-foot) bronze statue, called Jizo Bosatsu (Bodhisattva), has been there showing a graceful look for over 300 years, enduring a series of disasters.

It is one of the six bronze statues built by Jizo monk Shogen in early 1700s at the gateways to the Shogun's headquarters of Edo, according to the temple brochure. The feudalistic Edo period lasted from 1603 to 1868, when Japan's capital moved to Tokyo from Kyoto.

Wearing a hat like a lampshade and something like a red bib hanging from the
neck, the statue holds a jingling rod in the right hand and a wish-fulfilling gem, called "Hoju," in the left hand.

Reiganji Temple's Jizo Statue

Shogen, who lived in Fukagawa that is part of Koto City now, was 24 years old when an incurable disease struck him. His selfless prayers for cure, joined by his parents, however, miraculously led to his recovery, the temple records said.

The recovery prompted him to erect six Jizo statues in a similar fashion found in Kyoto, a former capital in western Japan before the Edo period.

The monk then started soliciting funds from people and as many as 72,000 common people joined in the drive, the records stated.

It took 14 years to complete all of the six statues, commonly known as the "Edo Roku Jizo" (Six Jizo Statues of Edo), including one at the Reiganji Temple in 1717. All the names of donors and the date of their construction were inscribed on the body and the pedestals of the Jizo statues.

Having been exposed to the weather over time, almost all the original gold-plated surface of the bodies changed and some holes and cracks were found in them.

Over the past month or so, I paid a visit to each of the six temples, I could not help being impressed by a gentle look of the seated Jizo.

At the Reiganji Temple, its main hall was twice destroyed in modern times alone - by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the air raid by the U.S. forces on March 10, 1945, chief priest Ito Shinjo said, adding that the present hall was rebuilt in 1981. There is a kindergarten on the right along the approach to the temple's main building.

Reiganji Temple's Mail Hall

In Fukagawa, there was another statue erected by Shogen at a separate temple originally, but that one was pulled down with its structure partly due to an order of a new government in 1868 under the policy of separation between Buddhism and Shintoism, temple officials say.

The remaining five of the Jizo statues were narrowly saved.

In Buddhism, Jizo Bodhisattva is considered to offer salvation to all living things in this world. Worshipping the Jizo Bosatsu gained widespread popularity among the nobles and ordinary people during the Heian period (792-1185) in Japan, according to the legend.

Buddhism came into Japan in the sixth century after passing through China. For some Japanese, without doubt, both Buddhism and Shintoism, an indigenous religion of the country, are very important in their daily lives.

The five temples where you can see the Jizo Bosatsu are as follows:

* Reiganji Temple: 1-3-32 Shirakawa, Koto City
  (Get off at Kiyosumi Shirakawa, on either Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line or Toei Oedo Line)

* Honsenji Temple: 3-5-17 Minami Shinagawa, Shinagawa City
  (Aomono Yokocho on Keihin Kyuko Line)

Honsenji Temple's Jizo Statue

* Taisoji Temple: 2-9-2 Shinjuku, Shinjuku City
  (Shinjuku Gyoen Mae on Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line)

Taisoji Temple's Jizo Statue

* Shinshoji Temple: 3-21-21 Sugamo, Toshima City
  (Sugamo on Toei Subway Mita Line)

Shinshoji Temple's Jizo Statue and Mail Hall

* Tozenji Temple: 2-12-13 Higashi Asakuksa, Taito City
  (Take the bus 'Higashi 42 Ko' in front of Tobu Asakusa Station, and get off at Higashi Asakusa)

Tozenji Temple's Jizo Statue

By Kozo

Copyright © Koto English-speaking Volunteer Guide Association - All Rights Reserved.

Broad bean Festival is coming soon!

Broad bean Festival is coming soon! It is held on Sat. May 18 and Sun. May 19 at River station next to NAKAGAWA FUNABANSHO MUSEUM (Please see the previous blog article).

During Edo period (1603 and after), people love to eat slightly salted boiled broad beans harvested near Nakagawa river bank. This Festival is to commemorate and remind the time when people have enjoyed locally grown Broad beans, watching Sumo games. The festival is held at the river bank adjacent to NAKAGAWA FUNABANSHO MUSEUM.

Broad bean ("Soramame")

The event includes, Broad bean refreshment stands, boat cruising, canoeing, souvenir shops, and other events related to Broad Beans.

By Yukiko

Source of photo: photo AC

Copyright © Koto English-speaking Volunteer Guide Association - All Rights Reserved.

Eye-Opening experiences ‐Local history of River, and beautiful scenery or river bank "NAKAGAWA FUNABANSHO MUSEUM"

The Exterior view of Nakagawa Funabansho Museum

If you live in, or happen to be in Koto-City, and if you are interested in knowing the history of river、fishing, or agriculture, as well as waterway transport, this is exactly the place you should not miss.

There are quite a few exhibitions during Edo period (1602-1876). For example;

• Reproduced Nakagawa Funabansho - Shipping Guard House
• Local history & Culture introduction since Edo period, specialized in agriculture, and local vegetables, and seaweed industry.
• Edo traditional rod and fishing culture, (this is the very unique and valuable exhibition for anglers not to miss.
• The Water transport throughout Edo period.
• History of Koto City, water front, and modern industry, and reproduction of living room from 1926-1989.

Reproduced Nakagawa Funabansho - Shipping Guard House

This museum is a sister museum of Fukagawa Edo Museum. While Fukagawa Edo Museum was established to reproduce the life-sized row of stores and houses on the streets of Fukagawa-Saga cho in Edo in mid-19th century, Nakagawa Funabansho Museum exhibits the reproduction of Shipping Guard House, an Edo Government Office, built in 1661 to exercise strict control over boats going in and out of Edo through Onagi-Gawa River and canal.

The building is standing alongside of the river bank, and functioning as the stop of an amphibious bus "Sky Duck," and every year, early spring the river bank becomes one of the most gorgeous places for cherry blossom viewing (1000 cherry trees are blooming simultaneously. 

Sky Duck's bus stop

The row of cherry blossom trees

Although the lecture/seminar is given by Japanese, this museum offers quite a number of lecture/seminars regarding their exhibitions/highlights/local history regarding river and  water. Also they are offering the opportunity to experience boat trip sailing around Onagi Gawa river and connected canals. If you are interested in knowing details, please contact Museum directly.

How to find the museum:

Address: 9-1-15, Ojima, Koto-City, Tokyo 136-0072 Japan

Tel: 03-3636-9091

Website: https://www.kcf.or.jp/nakagawa/   (Japanese Only)

Just 5 minute- walk from Higashi-Ojima Station (S16）, Toei-Shinjuku-Line (Ojima-Guchi Exit) 

Opening time 9:30am -5:00pm. (Entry is closed at 4:30pm), Every Monday is closed.

By Yukiko

Copyright © Koto English-speaking Volunteer Guide Association - All Rights Reserved.