Let’s continue our Japanese trip to Tokyo and the neighborhood of Asakusa, as I want to tell you about this amusement park hidden behind the Senso-ji temple. Nothing compared to the size of Tokyo Disneyland, but it still has a lot of charm, such as it was coming from another time.

Amusement park lovers, you may enjoy this totally vintage place. We decided to spend quite some time during the day and loved it. So here are a few informations to enjoy this “back to childhood” day.

 

The oldest amusement park in Japan

Pandas in front of the “House of surprises” attraction

 

The Hanayashiki Park was created in 1853. Originally a botanical park, it has changed over the year from a zoo to become what it is now.

 

Some might find the decoration a bit tacky… but it’s actually what makes its charm: an outdated and colorful touch which honor the childhood and its small pieces of happiness.

 

The entrance ticket

 

Opening and closing times change pretty much everyday but overall it’s open from 10:00am to 6:00pm. If you want to try all the attractions it might be smart to spend the day but the most important is to take your time. It’s mostly the ambiance that is particularly nice.

You need to pay an entrance ticket (1000¥ for adults and 500¥ for kids) then, inside, you need to buy tickets to access the attractions.

 

A book of 11 tickets cost 1000¥ and the unlimited one cost 2300¥ per person, knowing that one attraction usually requires in average 2 to 5 tickets. Do the math!

We purchased two books of 11 tickets and we were able to do what we wanted, especially as a lot of rides are made for young kids.

 

The Attractions

The “roller coaster”

 

We didn’t try out everything but I think we did the essentials. Do not look for attractions that will take your breath away in this park: everything is old style and relatively artisanal.

There are some crazy rides (such as the Space Shot where your drop from the top of a tower, the Disk-O which turns and goes back and forth on a rail or Little Star which rotates around an axis and itself = I skipped these ones as I can’t stand these kind of “pleasures”) but overall everything is smooth.

 

Will you dare the Little Star or the Space shot ride ? (…For my part,  I prefer the boatride)

 

House of surprises : an old-fashion attraction, which I won’t detail much as the fun comes from the surprises inside (teasing time!)

Thriller Car : also old-fashion ghost train. I was so scared that someone could quietly come out in the dark that I screamed the whole time, but actually the Japanese didn’t hire anyone to do so.

 

Scary things are just one step away from recklessness !

 

Roller Coaster : a “beginner” ride to go around the park: no thrill but still fun.

 

Carnival : The ride looking like a caterpillar (only my SO tried it as we only had 2 tickets left)

Game Plaza : arcade game where we spent quite some time. Here you must directly pay at the machine.

Hammer to smash beavers coming out of a hole, musical drum, basket ball: nothing very spectacular but if you are easily entertained, it might keep you busy for a while.

 

 

There are other attractions which may be only for Japanese speakers (such as a a haunted house and a haunted mansion which apparently require an audio headset) and the rest is really made for kids. You just need to choose!

 

Funfair food

Hot bánh bao !

 

The funfair food stands are always part of the childhood things we love.

On the list in this park, the classical cotton candies, popcorns, crepes but also a few Asian alternatives such as ramen and takoyaki (at the Kiki and Bakezona food court). I even found Bánh Bao (“nikkuman” in Japanese) so I was happy!

 

French fries from Fukushima 😉

 

There is also a restaurant named Furoru upstairs, famous for its potatoes (I didn’t have time to try but let me know!). A lot of other food stands around the park so you shouldn’t be hungry… especially with these giant French fries!

 

I hope you may want to try visiting this amusement park a bit hidden in the streets of Asakusa after reading this article.

Anyway, the strong point of this park is also the souvenir shop at the exit, which is full of small treasures such as Magical girls for the nostalgic ones like me (Creamy Mami, Pastel Yumi, Magical Emi…). You can’t say I didn’t warn you! (English translation by Quiterie)

After a overall overview of Tokyo, I would like to focus on some neighborhoods. As I was telling you I’ve been trying to look for places more in lines with my actual tastes… and Shimokitazawa is now part of them! !

A nice discovery especially as that day traditional Setsubun festivities were held. Let’s not wait more and let’s discover this neighborhood together!

 

A cool and vintage neighborhood

Shimokita (its little name), is located in the southwest of Tokyo and is the favorite neighborhood for artists, musicians, and even if it doesn’t mean anything, cool people.

The atmosphere is just perfect for hipsters as vintage shops, highly instragramable coffees, independent movie theaters, izakaya (Japanese tapas bar), concerts and jazz bars can be found.

 

 

A laid-back ambiance to wander around small streets around the train station.

 

The advantage of this neighborhood is the limited access to the cars, which allows to enjoy the visit without stress, going from coffees to shops and shops to restaurants.

 

Setsubun 節分 festivity

We visited this neighborhood on February 3rd, and as soon as we went out of the station, we faced a “non equal” terms battle between children armed with magical beans and big screaming evils.

For the story, Setsubun celebrates the beginning of Spring (based on Chinese agricultural calendar): it supposed to scare away the evil spirit (oni) and welcome happiness at home. Hence “Oni wa soto ! Fuku wa uchi !” (“Get out devils, inside happiness!”) yelled in the streets of Shimokitazawa.

 

Not even scared !

 

The oni might visually reminds you of Lum (Urusei Yatsura) from our childhood, knowing that the manga was directly inspired from this legend and its yellow stripped clothes: now we know!

These evils are pushed in the middle of half-scared, half-courageous kids, throwing at them beans (fukumame) contained in a wooden bowl, the whole happening in a very jovial ambiance.

After being strafed by all these beans, the devils finally go away, under the triumphant (and sometimes terrified) looks of the kids.

 

The tradition says we should eat the number of beans corresponding to our age, or more, if we would like to have a good fortune for the whole year. We also need to eat a big maki (ehomaki) all at once and silent while turning the head in a certain direction.

I didn’t follow this last one as I decided to go for a stack of pancakes at the nearby coffee shop instead.

 

A procession finally started in the streets of the neighborhood, still in a crazy ambiance with magical beans throwed from everywhere.

 

 

My addresses

This neighborhood offers a lot of yummy addresses: I don’t even really need to recommend any as you would only need to walk around the streets and stop by the places that look nice and interesting for coffee or shopping.

Even so, here are the addresses I approved and other that I didn’t have the time to try but look promising:

 

NINE PANCAKE HOUSE (〒155-0031, 2 Chome-33-6 Kitazawa)

It’s the place where I discovered Maco, the singer I was talking about here! Well, it’s also were I ate very nice banana pancakes (I didn’t dare trying the one with few stories made of fruits as we just had before our age of beans) and a very fresh açai bowl.

 

 

SAMA (2-26-18 Kitazawa, Setagaya 155-0031)

Waiting outside before eating a cosy and warm curry soup inside (Well, OK I waited just for 2 seconds)

 

Restaurant specialized in curry soup, a liquid version of Japanese curry to enjoy with rice. We could also find a lot of curry in Hokkaido. When it’s cold outside it’s just perfect.

 

We can choose the degrees of spices from 1 to 30! I chose the level 5 and it was more than enough (knowing that I’m usually quite fine when it comes to spicy food!). Anyway, it was very delicious and invigorating.

 

OJIYAN CAFÉ (5 Chome-35-25 Daita)

A restaurant/ coffee specialized in rice porridge. As fan of chao gà, the pictures here of this Japanese style porridge are really mouthwatering.

 

CITY COUNTRY CITY (Hosozawa Bldg 4F, 2-12-13 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku)

Spaghettis in the middle of a raw and natural decoration, surrounded by vinyls. Probably the best to fill up your playlist and stomach (See more here).

 

VINTAGE SHOPS

You can find them at every corners of the streets but here are a few interesting addresses such as Flamingo, Ocean BLV, Dylan, Haight & Ashbury. (English translation by Quiterie)