Day Three: Kawasaki to Kanagawa

Distance: 9.7 km
Start: 11:50
End: 5:50

Time of Planned Departure: 10:00 am.

Times I Went Back Home to Pick Stuff Up: 0
Forgotten Items: 2 (sunscreen, lens adapter for polaroid back for holga)

Souveniers: (not really but I bought these things) Hat from Muji, Sunscreen

I got to Kawaskai a bit late. I was putting some film in my bag, readjusting a few things and in the process, forgot my sunscreen and the lens adapter and somehow lost 20 minutes. I found it sitting where I packed my bag when I got home tonight.

Yesterday I realized I was going to need a hat. I wanted to buy a hat from an oba-san shop in a shotengai but never came across such a place. Lots of sandal shops, senbei places and a lot of closed shops but no hats. My eyes were really sore and the hat really helped today.

After I finally got to Kawasaki, Jamie and I spent the first twenty minutes planning out the route and the pacing and finished coffee at Starbucks. I dragged her to Muji where I bought a floppy linen hat and on to Bic Camera for some Polaroid film. We got sucked into a Coldstone Creamery for some ice-cream. Malls are a dangerous place! The line at Coldstone is usually twenty people + long so I thought I'd finally give it a try. Pretty good, but not worth a long wait in line. People are crazy! I set up my Polaroid and only then realized I had forgotten my lens adapter. Bummer. Now I had to carry film I wasn't going to use.

Keikyu Kawasaki was pretty busy this morning. Okay, it was pretty busy around noon. The sounds of a game arcade made conversation pretty difficult. I took my Estello pictures and we took off. I managed to pick up the Old Tokaido fairly quickly. I was a bit unsure because I was coming from the opposite direction in broad daylight instead of night. Luckily, I had a marker photo I had taken the night before to match me up. When I found the spot I took the photo, I noticed a stone marker identifying the Old Tokaido. I hadn't noticed it in the crowd and the dark the night before.

The Road cuts across Kawasaki perpindicular to the main shopping streets that come straight off of JR Kawasaki Station. Mostly, the street was lined with old mom and pop shops that were closed Sundays or maybe closed indefinitely. Lots of housing from the '70s dotted with a few older lots in varying condition. We passed a few little street shrines but the most interesting things were the historical markers posted every once in a while. The markers were all in Japanese and with the amount of time it takes me to walk between stations I didn't have time to puzzle them out. That is what I bought the guide book for.

The nicest stretch of the walk was between Tsurumi Bridge and Tsurumi Station. It's very pretty, lined with lots of green. Lots of historical markers every couple of meters. It used to be a place where people took a break for tea after getting ferried across the river. None of the tea houses still exist. If I am wrong about this, please correct me. I'd love to go back and check it out.

I also enjoyed the stretch between Tsurumi Station and Namamugi Station. The Old Tokaido moves off the Number 15 road for a bit and wanders through a neighborhood with lots of interesting turns, alleys and open spaces. The Tsurumi River runs along one side of this neighborhood and some old factories hem in the houses. There is a pretty nice path along the riverbanks and a park running along side some old factories were filled with old ladies sitting in the sun or some kids playing with their dads. It was also very nice and quiet. After walking along the 15 Road it was nice to get a break from the sound of moving vehicles.

Near an Inari Shrine in this area a group of young boys were excited about finding a spider with a giant body. They left and brought back some friends but the spider had disappeared into a crack in the wall. Jamie was looking at the spider with the boys and I was trying to take some pictures. I think I would have been better off looking at the spider. Sounded pretty interesting.

I was starting to get a bit confused with the map at this point. An older couple gave us some directions to the station and commented on our photography. I was taking a picture of some pipes and I think they belonged to them. They wanted to know if we saw something interesting. They were pretty friendly and told us to look for the Kirin Beer factory.

It was only later that I connected the name of the station "Namamugi" (raw/ unprocessed grain) with beer making. I wonder which came first.

The stretch from Namamugi to Kanagawa is pretty lonely. Mostly tin sided buildings in various stages of rusting, some beautiful older houses that must be circa 1950 or 1960 if not earlier but showing their age. Still, the beautiful tiles and wood details remain in some of these places. Surprisingly few people were on the sidewalks. Few restaurants and most of the shops a specific industry or car parts shop. Jamie and I were really hungry by this time and in desperate need of a place to just sit and rest. No parks, no benches, few convenience stores. Most of the restuarants were ramen joints that were closed or looked as if they hadn't been open for years.

The only restaurants were a McDonalds and a beer garden both across the busy road. Two tiny Keikyu line stations boasted of three places to eat, all of which were closed. We finally found a ramen shop and gratefully walked in and ordered.

I can't say much for the rest of the walk--about two km. It mainly became a struggle just to finish. I have always thought myself fairly fit, but I realize how much I must have overestimated my fitness. Again, I find myself amazed at the fact that women must have been walking three times further a day in straw sandals. It's very humbling.