The shopping experience in Kashiwa is simply fabulous. As a resident here, I'd say to my friends "Everything's available within 5 minutes walk from home". No wonder Kashiwa attracts hundreds of thousands of shoppers from neighboring cities and country towns, even from some part of Metropolitan Tokyo.
2. Kashiwa as Cultural Centre of youngsters
Besides the variety of shopping, Kashiwa serves as the centre of modern pop-culture of youngsters. This city is loved by so many teenagers and early-twenties to enjoy trendy attractions and comfortable cityscape.
| It is the young musicians' choice to develop their carrier in this city. The concourse of Kashiwa railway station is famous for dozens of baskers' performance and hundreds of their admirer's cheers. Some of them successfully made them into the world, like the J-Pop big names such as "Bakufu-Slump" and "Something ELse". So many young baskers compliment Kashiwa of its warm-hearted atmosphere for young musicians.
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Japanese Traditional Elegance |
3. Kashiwa Raysol - Professional Soccer Team
The city of Kashiwa is well-known across the country since the emergence of "Kashiwa Reysol" in 1996, the professional soccer team of "J-League". J-League is the Japanese version of the England's Premier-League or Italy's "Serie A", loved by millions of supporters especially among youngsters.
The Reysol has completely changed the landscape of Kashiwa. The comfortable 25-minutes walkway from Kashiwa Station to the Soccer Stadium is called "Reysol Road", filled with fancy shops, takeaways and izakayas (Japanese-style bars), mainly dedicated for the Reysol supporters. Kashiwa is also attempting to host the campsite of the 2002 Korea-Japan Worldcup games. The warm-hearted people is ready to welcome the world heroes.
The Reysol supporters and street musicians' live concerts strongly encourge the city to advance toward the "Capital of Sport and Music" of the 21st century.
4. Kashiwa's natural environment
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Unlike the wide-spread image of Tokyo's congestion, pollution and poor environment, Kashiwa and the vicinities enjoy greener landscape and clearner air. The green rice paddy stretches eastward from eastern Kashiwa is as long as 20 kilometres. The forest walk in southern Kashiwa will take you an hour to explore. |
| Lake Teganuma |
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It is a great pleasure to rent a bicycle (only 200 yen a full day!) at Kashiwa Station to indulge yourself in the beautiful scenary of Lake Teganuma. The 15 kilometre lakeside bikeway offers you the good excersize and a peaceful holiday experience. Remember to grab a lunchbox to picnic! The lakeside BBQ is the great alternative.
5. Brief history of Kashiwa
Kashiwa is named after "Kashi-ba" which means the pier or jetty. Historically, the people around this area have been lived on tiny fisheries and rice farming. Although Kashiwa is located only 30 kilometres away from the national capital, Tokyo, this area has been under-developed until recently. This is partly because the Japanese mystical thought of the direction "North-east is inauspicious!", which is where Kashiwa is located from Tokyo.
However, the unprecedented expansion of Tokyo involved Kashiwa in the urbanisation since late 1950s. "Because Kashiwa has nothing, its modernization is the fastest!". By late 1970s, Kashiwa has become the unchallenged regional centre of shopping, transportation and pop-culture in this area. Even now, Kashiwa is the most favoured place to visit, shop, eat live, study etc. in Tokyo's north-eastern suburbs.
6. Only concerns - Rush hour congestion
The life in Kashiwa is great. However, the only concern is the commuting hell to Tokyo. The huge commuting population of Kashiwa area is accommodated by the JR (Japan Railways) Joban line only, nothing else at the moment. Consequently the rush-hour congestion is one of the worst in Tokyo area. However, the 2nd Joban Line is scheduled to start operation in 2005, which is expected to ease the commuting environment.
7. Yummies & Relaxes
| I believe the variety and quality of Kashiwa's restaurants is among the best in Tokyo's suburbs. Beside Japanese cuisines, Kashiwa offers Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Nepalese, Italian, French, American and multi-national (modern Japanese) restaurants. Many visiters says Kashiwa is the best place to enjoy Italian and Indian food.
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Hot Spring-Indulgement |
My favorite restaurants are "Curry House Bombay" (Indian style curry), "White Gyoza" (Northern Chinese style flied dumplings), "Tairyo Sushi" and "Totoyoshi" (both Sushi bars). The dishes are very impressive.
Kashiwa offers numbers of places to relax. Especially, the "Yunohana" hot spring is the must to visit. This is natural hot spring whose mineral components are good for stress easing and skin care. In Yunohana, you can enjoy great variety of different types of baths, such as open-air baths, dry saunas, steam saunas, jacuzzis and herbal medicine baths in reasonable price (800 yen). Believe me. This is the great relaxing experience and you will be satisfied.
