Kanto region · the offbeat side of Saitama.
3 discoveries
A castle town an hour from Tokyo that still looks like the Edo period: a street of black-walled clay merchant warehouses crowned by a wooden bell tower that has rung the hours for centuries.
A quiet Saitama neighborhood that is the spiritual home of bonsai — a cluster of working nurseries and a dedicated museum where centuries-old miniature trees are tended like living heirlooms.
A cathedral of trains in Saitama: real locomotives from steam to shinkansen parked in a vast hall, a turntable that spins a steam engine to a whistle, and driving simulators for would-be conductors.
