Japan Photos 15

In addition to seeing the Disney fireworks from the apartment, on a clear day Mount Fuji is visible. This was obviously taken with maximum zoom. Even still, it was a better photo from over sixty miles away than I got eight years earlier from much closer.
In the planning stages of the trip I was looking for an interesting half-day trip not too far outside of Tokyo. I found Kawagoe had some old buildings and a place called Candy Alley. One down side is that the JR trip would take a while.
Even though the houses are of newer construction, the style of the roofs and the tiles used maintains a distinctive oriental look.
Like I told you, Kawagoe.
Tommy Lee Jones is the BOSS.
I found it hard to find the road I was looking for from the station to the old part of town, even with a paper map and Google maps on my phone.
Regardless I knew we were headed in the correct direction. Eventually I got myself oriented (no pun intended) and we got where we needed to go.
Another temple. Geez, aren't you tired of seeing these things by now?
I guess the appeal of Kawagoe is seeing the Kuraszukuri no Machinami area, which has old warehouse buildings from the Edo Period. Of course they have been converted to shops and restaurants now.
The bell tower, Toki no Kane (Bell of Time) is one of the symbols of Kawagoe. Apparently the first one was built four hundred years ago, but as with so many things made of wood it burned several times. This one dates to 1893.
The street was quite busy on a clear Friday morning.
Apart from the modern shops now in the buildings and the cars in the street, you could just picture 19th century Japan.
Don't know if this was originally the old post office or it is just where it is now.
Kashiya Yokocho, or Candy Alley. It's not a long street by any means.
From what I read about it, following the earthquake of 1923 there was a shortage of Japanese sweets in Tokyo. Kawagoe candy stores saw an increase in orders and this street lined with shops remains.
Lots of the shops had samples. I tried some of the green tea hard candy. Pretty good.
Pretty sure the bagel place is more recent.
So is that vending machine.
The bank building looks so differently Western but dates to 1918.
We've seen all the old buildings. Time to head back to the train station and back to Tokyo.
I mentioned earlier about the cold and hot vending machines. Some of them had corn soup and other varieties.

TO TOKYO