Like a bead of water on a glass, Shin-Koenji is just one tiny glittering piece of Tokyo.
During a ten-day trip in Tokyo, I stayed near this shrine, the Myoho-ji temple. Across the street is a grocery store and a 7-11, and its near the Shin-Koenji station for a relaxed metro ride into the city. The metro wasn’t even bad during morning rush hour - more often than not I could find a seat.
Graveyards and temples, an art school, a small park - while I can’t say Shin Koenji reminded me of anywhere else in the world, it was the picture of peace and order. Like taking a ski run for the first time and already knowing it like the back of your hand, Shin Koenji is a safe and easy place to stay while visiting Tokyo. It’s not as exciting as other districts of Tokyo, but it doesn’t try to be, either. It was cool place to relax after visiting the city each day, a cool place to make a lot of art in the evenings.
On the last couple days of my stay in Shin Koenji the sky lit up like this.
Narrow streets cut through Shin Koenji and even more alleyways connect the neighborhood. It’s a great place to be a pedestrian or a cat. It’s easy to find your way through this neighborhood as most people seem to have a path memorized to and from the subway.
A sunny day in Shin Koenji - mirrors were used to make traffic easier to see throughout the narrow, tightly-cornered streets.
The metro station at Shin Koenji was chill throughout most of the day - the only time to really avoid was the 9 am rush hour where countless workers were jamming in to each car to get to work each day.
Here I am at my Air BnB in Shin Koenji!