We decided to have a day out seeing some Japanese history. Over at nearby Shinagawa station we bought our tickets from a machine and caught the JR Yamanote line to Ikebukuro. We changed there and caught the Tobu Toju line all the way to Kawagoe where we hoped to find the historic area known by many as Little Edo. This is because the townscape resembles that which could be seen during the Edo era and the streets lined with old, warehouse-style buildings, temples and shrines. It was a long train journey, mostly overground, and we saw many low rise houses built very close together and very few having anything which could be called a garden. This was very similar to what we had seen from the train on the outskirts of Osaka.

We eventually reached Kawagoe and set off to find some history. We walked miles and didn't find anything! We kept coming across posters which seemed to be of historical areas but no directions at all. We had just about given up and were about to drop when we came across our first temple. It was very busy and all decorated up as this was a special Japanese holiday to mark the day before the start of Spring.

From then on the temples came thick and fast, but we were mainly in search of the old merchant house area, the Bell of Time, and Penny Candy Lane where lots of Japanese sweets are sold. Meanwhile, hunger caught up with us and we ducked inside a small curry restaurant which we found out was run by a very nice couple originally from Sri Lanka. We had a delicious set lunch which included the most enormous Naan Bread I have ever seen! ... the most delicious I have ever eaten, too! Along with this I had a bowl of dhal and Simon had chicken curry, just what the doctor ordered on such a very cold day.

After our lovely lunch we set off again and found the area we were looking for round the very next corner, the Kurazukuri (storehouse) Zone. Crossing the road we walked straight into Kura no machi (Old Town) Ichibangai Street. This was a long street of fascinating old buildings on either side, taking us back to a world of 100 years ago. Apparently, Japanese homes once had strong buildings called 'Kura' for on-property storage of household tools. Since these buildings were very fire-resistant they developed into residential buildings and stores in Kawagoe. There were some fascinating and colourful shops on show, many with a food theme, but we also found that many of the shops were closed, we think because of the Spring festival/ holiday previously mentioned.

Leading off this street there was a lane where we found Toki no kane, the Time Bell Tower. This is a building where a bell has been rung to announce the time since the early Edo period. The current tower is the fourth version after being damaged by fire in the Great Fire of Kawagoe (1893). The bell is rung four times daily and it's towering presence over the kurazukuri town has become a symbol of Little Edo, Kawagoe. When we visited some extensive and very noisy maintenance work was in progress which affected our photos a little bit but not our enjoyment of the experience.

Not far away was our final 'must see' on this visit, Kashiya Yokocho or Penny Candy Lane. Tucked away at the back we might have missed it so were very pleased to find it after all. We were a little bit disappointed to find that most of the shops were closed again but enough were open to get the feel of the area. many of the shops were selling special long bread/cake sticks which seemed very popular and lots of locals were buying. They looked good, but we decided not to indulge.

Overall we had walked a huge distance from the train station where we had arrived and the prospect of re-tracing our steps was a little bit daunting. Luckily there was another station much closer by and we were able to get a faster, limited express train back to Tokyo, only changing once on the way.A quick turnaround at the hotel and we were on our way out to Roppongi were we had a booking for dinner at the famous Inakaya restaurant. We had enjoyed the experience so much on our last visit and were not disappointed this time either. From the moment we walked in to the traditional noisy welcome we were ready to enjoy the show. We knew that it is an incredibly expensive place so we made sure only to order a few dishes and simply drink the one beer each. You are there for the experience, not to eat and drink your fill. You sit around a 3-sided table while the two chefs kneel in front of you cooking on hot plates. You choose what you want to eat from dishes of wonderful fresh produce, meat fish and vegetable, and the chefs pass the food to you on long, wooden paddles. One customer was celebrating a birthday so we were able to take part in the special birthday ceremony which involved lots of shouting and a series of special, triple claps, all good fun!

We left the restaurant much lighter in the pocket (they seem to simply think of a number and double it, then add the number they first thought of!) but having really enjoyed the experience. Our next port of call was the Railway Bar, a small, narrow bar which seemed to be full of more westerners than we had seen in our entire time in Tokyo so far! After a couple of beers perched at the bar we decided to head back to the Shinagawa and 'home'.