Nakameguro – often voted one of the top places to live in Tokyo. I’d love to live there, maybe one day! It’s so close to Shibuya and yet has a local atmosphere all of its own. Cool cafes, bars, small shops and most importantly some pretty good izakaya! Last time here I was on a walk from Ebisu, but last Saturday evening it was the annual Awaodori festival that pulled me here…plus I couldn’t miss out on seeing our own Backstreet Guide Rie showing off her street moves!

It’s the first time I had been and we had a really good night. Some of the Tokyo festivals can be big and brash and hard to see anything at all amongst the thousands that swarm there, but this was just the right size, enough to keep you interested for a couple for hours but not so big you couldn’t get close the action. I won’t go into the details of Awa dance festival, you can find more info here.

This awaodori was a local version of original and largest dance festival in Shikoku and was made up of around 15-20 local teams of choreographed dancers each with their own routines, chants and costumes. Although they are divided into teams it is in no way a competition – well apparently anyway!

Many of you have had Rie guide you around Tokyo, but she took Saturday off to join in her first ever Awaodori – how was it Rie?

Brilliant, hard work and it felt great to be part of the team…thanks guys!

Well, we thought she did a great job, despite limited practice and she plans on joining again next year!

Hope you enjoy the photos and the highlights video below. We also want to say a big thank you to the Meguro Hojinkai and to Sakura House, (a Tokyo real estate company and friends of The Backstreet Guides), for inviting Rie to join them this year.

Our very much amateur video of the highlights of the 2012 Nakameguro Awaodori – filmed on a phone camera by my friend Kwon!

Happy New Years from Toyko!

Everyone at The Backstreet Guides would like to sincerely thank all of our customers who toured Tokyo with us in 2011. It was obviously a tough year for Japan and by visiting, every one of you helped out in some way. So, thank you from us and a sincere thank you on behalf of the people of Japan.

New years eve in Tokyo usually starts with eating toshikoshi soba noodles, a buckwheat noodle usually served in a warm stock at this time of year. Then if you want to venture outside, it’s a choice of either making your way to Odaiba to watch the main fireworks display over Tokyo bay, or joining in one of the many Hatsumode festivals at temples and shrines.

I chose the later. Originally I was going to join the Hatsumode festivities at the Meiji Jingu. But everyone warned me that it’s crazy there and takes hours of queuing to get close to the main shrine. So I decided on the less popular Ikegami Honmonji temple, a walkable distance, (if need be), from my house. Less popular I thought, WRONG! It seemed like at least half of Tokyo had turned up…

We probably got a third of the way towards the temple when the large tsuragane bell was struck to signal midnight and the start of 2012, everyone cheered…then quickly got back to their queuing! The bell is important actually. It’s supposed to be struck 108 times from midnight and into the new year. Buddhist religion believes that we have 108 vices and that to ring the tsuragane bell at the start of the new year will free us of those vices for the year. I’m really not sure the bell worked it’s magic this night going by the high prices people were charging for omamori , (charms) – one of the vices is greed for money…

We did finally make it to the temple and did some clapping and head bowing and wishing and throwing of money. It was a fun night, especially for those who love to queue! I bought a daruma, drew one eye in and made a wish. I am supposed to take it back there on the 31st 2012 to burn it and buy a new one, maybe the queues will be shorter then…

Just 10 minutes out of Shibuya on the Tokyu Toyoko line and you hit Jiyugaoka. A suburb often voted the people’s number one place to live in Tokyo, and it’s easy to see why.

The area around the station is its hub, with a central square as a focus, quite rare in Japan. Most weekends you’ll find something going on here, a festival, live music, art performances…and today there’s a bit of xmas in the air.

Walk in any direction from the square and you will find hundreds of cafes, bars, izakaya and restaurants serving just about any type of food you could think of. Jiyugaoka is very international. Mixed in between are fashion and gift shops, many seem to be independents.

I walked past this guy making yakiimo, (baked sweet potato), in a homemade oven in the back of his truck. Perfect for a chilly December afternoon. Tasted like roasted chestnuts.

These ECO cycle things are brilliant. I’ve seen them in a few places in Tokyo. A great space saving idea, very Japanese!

Back to the main event in the square, live music in various forms.

Actually, the main reason I came to Jiyugaoka was that I had read about the xmas tree lights being switched on today. Is that the xmas tree behind the choir? I didn’t notice another one…maybe someone could let me know?!