Kawagoe

Sometime in May, Juan and I took a day trip to the historic city of Kawagoe. Kawagoe is officially in Saitama, but it only took us about 40 minutes to get there from our house. Kawagoe, also know as "Little Edo", has several historically significant points of interest.

• Kita-in: A Buddhist temple founded in 830 AD
• 500 Buddha statues
• thick fire proof clay warehouses built in the 18th century
• a rare 16 meter tall bell tower
• Sweet Potato flavored food. Including sweet potato ice cream, sweet potato coffee and even sweet potato beer.
• Several museums including the Matsuri (Kawagoe festival) museum (which was our favorite)
• Penny Candy Alley: where old and young alike come to eat and enjoy traditional Japanese sweets

If you have the time, Juan and I recommend this quaint historic spot. If you like visiting places that are popular to Japanese people, but are not well known by tourists (this place is not listed in either Frommers or Lonely Planet Guide books) then this is the day trip for you. It is perfect for the entire family. And even though Juan and I saw less than 5 foreigners that day, the people of Kawagoe are more the happy to go out of their way to share their proud history with you (even though they speak almost no English).