Tokyo is one of my favorite places in the world, and, thanks to the Japanese government’s new visa policy for Filipinos, it’s also a place I get to visit often — thrice in the last eighteen months, as a matter of fact. I’ve been up and down Shibuya, stumbled tipsy through Roppongi, gotten lost in Shinjuku, seen the cherry blossoms in Ueno, and went crazy in Akihabara — and so, on my latest trip this October, I was looking for something off the beaten path. I wanted dirt.
Now, dirt is difficult to find in Japan, of course. The first word I’d use to describe the country is “clean”. But another word comes in a close second, thankfully, and that’s the word “random”. Japan is random, and so, in a quaint little restaurant under the tracks of the metro, I randomly met a Tokyo-based Estonian film scholar who pointed me in the right direction for dirt.
“You have to go to Shimokitazawa,” he said.
Shimokitazawa (or Shimokita to locals) is a little bohemian neighborhood that lies in the south west of Tokyo. It’s a place to find quirky clothes stores, vintage shops, trendy cafes, and little art galleries — but unlike similar spots in the center of the city, such as Harajuku and Omotesando, Shimokitazawa has none of the tourist traps, none of the crowds, and none of the chi-chi. It’s Tokyo with a bit of dirt. The Tokyo I’ve always wanted to see.
One afternoon, I took a 320-yen train ride from Kokkaigijidomae to Shimokitazawa Station. I had no guide books with me, no travel buddies — it was just me and my camera going wherever my feet would take me. I ended up walking from the afternoon all the way to the evening, and on this page, you’ll see what I saw. Come, take this little tour with me.
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