KCP Alum Nolan Good Explores Tokyo Streets (Part 2)
In this 2-part post, KCP student Nolan Good shares with us what makes Tokyo streets incomparable and special. Thanks, Nolan!
Once, while traveling outside of Ikebukuro, I found myself wandering a beautiful, quiet residential street quite unlike anything I’d experienced back home. It was neither suburb nor urban residential quadrant: it was a charming maze of family homes nestled within the city itself. Peaceful, though surrounded by the bustle of Earth’s most populous urban center. An oasis. After crossing some train tracks, the road opened up into a shopping street which an archway marking its entrance labeled “Sun Road” in stylized katakana. Small tatami mat cafes, vegetable vendors, and book shops with stacks of old tomes lined up beneath their windows were waiting to be explored. I never would have found any of them from a travel brochure or a map.
Train tracks in Kanamecho.
Funnily enough, after just a bit more wandering, I recognized where I was. Just a few minutes from home. I’d accidentally made a big loop.
I thought then that I had discovered a new hobby I could take with me anywhere, but coming home I shortly learned that there’s nowhere quite like Tokyo.
A bridge just west of Ikebukuro Station. When I found myself here, I knew I was close to home.
