Visiting "Little Edo" for New Year: Buying a Daruma Doll and Eating Daifuku in Kawagoe

A big akemashite omedetō (Happy New Year) to all readers at the start of 2025! While making new year's resolutions (新年の抱負=shin'nen no hōfu）is not as popular in Japan as in the West, a similar but rather unique cultural tradition centres around the daruma doll, a round, bright red, hollow paper-mâché figure representing the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma with a weighted bottom that enables it to bounce back when knocked down (like Weebles in the UK). This feature contributes to its popularity as a charm for good luck and encouragement, echoing the Japanese phrase nanakorobi yaoki (seven times down, eight times up) which signifies bouncing back from adversity and never giving up. When bought the eyes are usually blank (closed) and people fill in the left eye when making a wish or setting a goal and then fill in the other eye later when the wish is fulfilled or the goal is achieved - politicians typically do this at election time. Many temples hold new year markets selling these and I visited one of the biggest held at Kita-in temple (喜多院) - also known as Kawagoe Daishi (川越大師) - in Kawagoe City held every January 3rd.

Kawagoe City is located north of Tokyo, in Saitama Prefecture, and is often referred to as "Little Edo" - Edo is the old name for Tokyo - due to its many old buildings and retro Showa/Taisho atmosphere. Certainly wandering down the main street, surrounded by the ubiquitous food stalls encouraging you to snack as you walk, it would feel like stepping back in time, if it wasn't for the flood of foreign tourists (though to be fair, some do get into the spirit by utilising the many kimono hire stores). Walking along the main street I also spotted a daruma painting workshop in which participants can colour and draw the faces of daruma (the same shop has a delightful footbath cafe in the back which you should definitely check out). Other highlights include the Bell of Time (時の鐘=toki no kane), a bell tower which chimes four times a day and many buildings in the traditional kurazukuri (蔵造り) or warehouse style with walls finished with mud and plaster supposedly making them fireproof, damp-proof and even burglar-proof!

Street food is certainly a key point of the Kawagoe experience. Sweet potatoes (satsuma-imo=さつま芋) are probably the most famous of these and you can grab a bag of crisps, ice cream, or even sweet potato beer and coffee to sustain you as you battle the crowds. Sweet Shop Alley (Kashiya Yokocho=菓子屋横丁) is an area dedicated to traditional sweets and cakes and has a wonderful retro atmosphere. Another edible recommendation is daifuku (大福) - literally "big luck" - a type of Japanese sweet (wagashi) with mochi (chewy rice cake) wrapped around a sweet filling, typically anko (red bean paste) or fruit. Kawagoe has an amazing shop - prepare to queue - with paper thin mochi wrapped around a variety of high quality fruit such as strawberries, musk melon, mango, kiwi, orange and many more. The prices are astronomical - we paid ¥650 (over £3 or $4) for one strawberry - but the eating experience, where you use a fine thread to slice it in two and then savour, is probably worth the fee as a one-off cultural experience.

My daruma doll has one eye filled in, though since I wished for peace (a theme emphasised in the last post of 2024) I fear it may well be a while since I am able to draw in the right eye. In actual fact, the dolls are usually burned at the end of the year in a purification rite so it might remain with one eye closed (video here)! I could also have wished for a response to global warming though I might be waiting even longer to have that wish fulfilled - we still have not had any snow here in Tokyo, so no chance to build a yuki-daruma, the Japanese word for snowman (the Japanese snowman is typically two not three sections reflecting the shape of the daruma!). Finally, for those of you who have watched Squid Game, the Statues (Red Light Green Light) game is called Daruma-san ga Koronda (Mr Daruma Fell Down) in Japanese - go figure! If you have any wishes or goals for 2025, please let me know in the COMMENTS - I'll send a Japanese daruma doll to the best suggestion!