Photos by Takahiro Takiguchi ()
Central Tokyo’s Sugamo District is home to the well-known Jizodori Shopping Street, where over 200 shops featuring all kinds of goods coveted by the elderly such as clothes, health foods and souvenirs, stretch for a half-mile.
The street is frequented by a lot of seniors and is often called “Obaachan no Harajuku” (Grandma’s Harajuku), named after Tokyo’s famed shopping district for young hipsters.
The street is attractive not only for local seniors, but also offers tourists and foreigners a great chance to buy Japanese souvenirs, as the shops on the street offer variety of traditional Japanese foods, clothes and handicrafts sold at relatively reasonable prices.
Koganji, aka “Togenuki Jizoson,” a Buddhist temple on the street, also attracts a lot of elderly, as a statue of Arai Kannon (literally, Washing Deity) at the temple is believed to heal your pains and sickness when you pour water on the statue and polish the part with a cloth that corresponds to your own ailment.
Why not stroll around the Grandma’s Harajuku in Tokyo to enjoy shopping and the sacred legend of a washing deity? The street is particularly lively on the 4th, 14th and 24th of every month when the temple holds a small festival.
