A Canadian Family in Koganei

It's moments like these when I wish I had kept a detailed log of what went down like my dad did... But, since I am rather long-winded, I suppose it's a good thing (for any readers out there) if I cannot be as detailed as I would like.

I do remember that we spent the first day in Koganei Park (accessible out the north exit of Higashi Koganei Station on the Chuo Line). The cherry trees were partially in bloom, and even though not as awe-inspiring as they are at full bloom, it was enough to set off an obsession for my little sister, E. Other highlights included watching carp (koi) swim and gulp air, and contemplating a rather packed island of turtles and the one poor guy who just couldn't get up to sun himself. Notice I included the word 'sun' - you won't read this often in the summary of this trip. It was, for the most part, cold and wet and cloudy and foggy and more cold and wet. Moving on...

But Koganei isn't just home to big, slimy fish and cute, little painted turtles. Oh no, it's also home to the Edo-Tokyo Tatemono-En. An an open-air architectural museum of Edo-era buildings, it is a lovely place to get a quick overview of how Tokyo-ites (Edo-ites? Edo-ese? Edo-ians?) lived. They have fantastic guides (and the odd fantastically learned visitor willing to explain everything as though he were a guide). We breezed through a few buildings (best one: samurai farm-house, complete with four-tatami samurai suicide room...see, 'shi' is the Japanese word for four and death, so...) and made our way over to the Edo shopping street, stopping at the bus (under which my father took a peek and announced it to be a four-wheel drive),the trolley car and the (now waterless) public bath.

Forgive the lack of photos - the ones I have are somewhat less than flattering. I might nip a few from my sisters collection, but I'll decide that later.