Shirakawago in Tokyo! 日本民家園
Details
To join this event please see below and send me a message on LINE. Without this, you will not find out our meeting point. EVERYONE needs to do this EVERY TIME, including those who have participated with me previously.
Ok so it's not in Tokyo prefecture, but it's close enough!
We will have an optional late lunch together afterwards at Good Heavens in Shimo-Kitazawa (see below).
Though only 20 minutes by train from central Tokyo, the Nihon Minka-En Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum, located in a suburb of neighboring Kawasaki City, feels a world—and several centuries—away. The sprawling grounds are home to 25 marvelously preserved Edo-era homes relocated from all over the Japanese countryside, spanning an array of styles from farmhouses to samurai houses and includes a shrine, water mill, and kabuki stage.
We will meet at Mukogaoka-yuen Station on the Odakyu Line at 10.15am. Please kindly ensure you arrive punctually.
◾️After you have applied to join this event, please contact Mark Sensei via the Line application quoting your FULL NAME and this message: [Tokyo Shirakawago event - 22nd March] MARK's LINE ACCOUNT
If you would like to bring a guest, please ask me via Line.
◾️参加されるイベントの名前(フルネーム)と日付を付けてマーク先生にLINEしてください。
例:[Tokyo Shirakawago event - 22nd March] MARK's LINE ACCOUNT
定員の都合上、お連れ様がいる時は事前にLINEでご相談ください。
When it opened in April 1967, the museum consisted of only three houses: the Ito House, the Kiyomiya House and the Nohara House. Over the next 25 years more houses from around the country were acquired, dismantled and rebuilt at their present location.
The museum's five "villages" are arranged in clusters that follow the lay of the land, so that each new bend in the trail opens up to a separate section. Featured houses include the Kanagawa region (of which Kawasaki is part); Tohoku (northeast Japan) region; Kanto (Tokyo and environs) region; Shin-Etsu (Japan Alps and Sea of Japan) region; and a Post Town, with buildings that acted as rest facilities for travelers.
The inhabitants of these houses lived under widely diverse climate conditions. Some lived in mountainous areas where snow fell heavily in the winter; others were from the plains or adjacent to the sea. Their construction of their homes, and the implements on display therein—ranging from farming tools to fishnets—eloquently convey humanity's never-ending quest to adapt to the surroundings.
The interiors of many of the houses are open, and friendly volunteer guides may be present to greet visitors and field questions. As we sat cross-legged beside one house's smoldering irori (hearth), one explained to me, "It was left burning all the time, because the smoke also served to repel mosquitos during the summer months."
People in the pre-modern era struggled to maintain self-sufficiency. In addition to farming and fishing, many rural households supplemented their income by producing goods for sale or barter. Several of the homes display hand looms that were once worked by female members of the household, and in several of the houses, female volunteers work the shuttles to weave cloth.
While all the houses here have their own distinctive appeal, the park's top stars are clearly the four houses that make up the Shin-Etsu Regional Village. Built in the gassho-zukuri style—gassho means hands brought together as in prayer—their sharply angled thatched roofs and geometric construction are simply stunning. Robustly secured to the frames with straw rope, the three-story structures demonstrate the meticulous craftsmanship that went into their building.
Additional fees
- entrance fee ¥550
- optional lunch (see below)
Optional lunch: advance reservation required.
We will head towards GOOD HEAVENS British pub in Shimo-Kitazawa for lunch. To also join this event your event fee is simply a REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT of ¥500. As I need to make a reservation, prepayment (as per above) is required. We will close this offer on 21st March.
Event fee:
¥500 - early discount if you pay by 10th March early evening (PayPay, or in cash at an earlier event).
¥750 11th-21st March early evening (PayPay, or in cash at an earlier event).
¥1000 in cash on the event day (22nd March) - please bring the correct money (see the NOTE below).
NOTE: requesting to pay on the day of the event is upon the understanding that you will either attend the event OR arrange for the event fee to be paid via PayPay within 24 hours. Failure to do so may result in your removal from the group. See the cancellation policy below.
If you don't have PayPay, please ask a friend or coworker to do the transaction for you (give them cash!).
Cancellation policy:
- Full refund given if cancellation is notified BY LINE MESSAGE at least 24 hours before the event start time.
- Cancellation within 24 hours of the event start time or no-showing requires full payment of the event fee.
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After the event, you may submit a review/evaluation. Please kindly rate appropriately as a low evaluation has an impact on the group. Things you should clearly understand in advance:
- I (Mark) am not a tour guide. For many events this will also be my first time, and events are mainly organised based on intensive internet research.
- Nature cannot be guaranteed, so flower festivals may be impacted by the recent climate.
- We aim to depart on time, however bus schedules might change. This is unavoidable.
- We request participants arrive EARLY. In rare cases we might wait a few minutes if we do not need to take a bus.
- The number of participants is not guaranteed. However we will not have large groups.
- The event finish time might be earlier or later than advertised. The hiking time might be longer/shorter than anticipated. Return bus times are not guaranteed.
How to calculate your review appropriately:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars) = Everything was as described.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars) = The event was generally ok, but there were a few things that you weren't happy with (please provide further details).
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars) = The event was disappointing (please provide further details).
⭐️⭐️ (2 stars) = The event was poor (please provide further details).
⭐️ (1 star) = The event was terrible (please provide further details).