Since coming to Japan almost four years ago (November 6th will be my 4-year Japanniversary) I've lived in various locations. Ina, Omori, Yokohama; but my current home is about 10 minutes on the Chuo line out of Shinjuku in Asagaya. I moved here in May this year, and have always felt quite amazed by how quickly I got used to living here. Ina took a long time to love because of the whole culture-shock, not speaking the language, and dealing with below zero temperatures thing. I still consider it be my "Japanese Hometown", as I have lovely friends there, and always like going back to see every
one, but like any hometown you need to get away. I liked Omori-machi, but I hated, hated, HATED my apartment and the various 'intruders' who liked to surprise both me and my guests. I remember complaining about how much I missed Ina, when in fact, I just needed to live somewhere that didn't make me itch. Yokohama was cool, convenient and clean, but lacking in social interaction once my late-night party girl
jennarose went back to the US.
Asagaya has a very "downtown" atmosphere, by which I mean that it feels like a small town with a sense of community. There are all these little streets that wriggle all over the place, amazing restuarants (Japanese (of course), Thai, Turkish, Indian etc etc), tiny tiny bars and shops I will probably never go into, and old-style buildings that give the place an unusual attraction. I was talking to a friend the other night about Asagaya, and about how now having such a firm sense of 'belonging' to a place and the people makes it increasingly difficult to imagine a life anywhere else. I jokingly call my local bar my living room, but that is quite true. I can go there any night and there will always be someone I know to talk to.
I also really like it because there's always something going on. Next weekend there's a jazz festival, last month the omikoshi; Koenji is just a 20 minute stroll should you need a change of scenery (or a tin of baked beans from Tesco), and when you want to blow off steam on a Friday night, Shinjuku and Shibuya are within easy reach.
Here are a couple of other pictures, one from the Omikoshi festival the other week, and one from the Asagaya Tanabata festival (which, oddly, was in August, not July).
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Asagaya has a very "downtown" atmosphere, by which I mean that it feels like a small town with a sense of community. There are all these little streets that wriggle all over the place, amazing restuarants (Japanese (of course), Thai, Turkish, Indian etc etc), tiny tiny bars and shops I will probably never go into, and old-style buildings that give the place an unusual attraction. I was talking to a friend the other night about Asagaya, and about how now having such a firm sense of 'belonging' to a place and the people makes it increasingly difficult to imagine a life anywhere else. I jokingly call my local bar my living room, but that is quite true. I can go there any night and there will always be someone I know to talk to.
I also really like it because there's always something going on. Next weekend there's a jazz festival, last month the omikoshi; Koenji is just a 20 minute stroll should you need a change of scenery (or a tin of baked beans from Tesco), and when you want to blow off steam on a Friday night, Shinjuku and Shibuya are within easy reach.
Here are a couple of other pictures, one from the Omikoshi festival the other week, and one from the Asagaya Tanabata festival (which, oddly, was in August, not July).
See my Flickr for a better image.