My Town - For Now

And so, the harum-scarum nature of my blog continues by finally introducing the town I live in - the one I've resided in for some two years, and will soon be leaving for the bright lights.

Welcome to Namegawa.  It's a small, laidback town that lies about 40 miles north of Tokyo.  Now, as you perhaps know, being 40 miles away from 'Tokyo' doesn't mean anything, and indeed, I could walk from my house to central Tokyo without leaving an urban area.  But Namegawa sits on the very edge of the city scape, where it bumps into the mountains.  To say it has the best of both worlds is something of a stretch, but there is definitely an element to that.  Because Namegawa's trump card isn't what it has, but where you could be in a very short space of time.

But first things first, Namegawa itself.  It is very much a town of two halves.  In the south, surrounding the train lines, is the built-up area.  Not too built up, though: it's mostly suburbia and some low-rise depots, but it is very pleasant.  The area where I live is especially pleasant, because it is a band new area: even in my short time here, I've noticed at least a couple of dozen new houses sprout up, and one school.  The downside?  There is nothing else here.  Okay, so you've got the train station, supermarket and home centre within easy reach, but by and large it's a largely featureless grid of houses.

To the south, it's very much the 'inaka' (countryside).  The grids of houses give way to grids of paddy fields, with only the occasional wooden house, and the gentle hills are topped with thick mops of trees.  While I wouldn't call the settlements here rundown as such, you definitely wouldn't mistake which area was newer.  It's all very charming in it's own way, but it's remote, and there's not much to pull you out there.  With one very big exception - Shinrin Park.

Shinrin Park is a huge quasi-national park that takes up at least a quarter of the town.  It is huge, full of features too many to count (including a bouncy castle that looks like a weird mountain, but the best thing about it is the sprawling network of cycle lanes, running through the park like a web of mini-roads just for bikes, and my word, is it fun.  With friends barrelling along beside you, it's many-times over as entertaining.  Is it worth travelling far and wide for?  Yes.  Absolutely.

There is one more feature to mention of Namegawa (and, sadly, it really is only one more).  That is the observation tower, which sits atop a wooded hill in the middle of the town.  While not as essential a visit as Shinrin Park, it's definitely worth a look if you have the time, especially on a clear day, when the views are spectacular.  You can see all the way from the mountains of Gunma to downtown Tokyo.

Which leads me neatly onto Namegawa's trump card.  You see, Namegawa doesn't really have a lot going for it beyond the basic aspects for getting by.  At night, I despair as I watch my area basically turn into a ghost town.  Seriously, the blackouts that blanketed Japan after the earthquake last year made minimal difference in Namegawa.  There's much to be said for the slow, relaxed pace (indeed, after a hectic weekend, returning here can be a very soothing experience), but as it sits on the edge of the city and countryside, it can't really boast to be either.  What it can boast, however, is insultingly easy access to both.

Hop on a train and you can be in Tokyo in one hour.  Go in the other direction and you can be in Gunma in one hour, too.  And properly big cities and malls lie only half an hour away.  And, if you live in the southern suburbs of Namegawa (which most are likely too), then a train station lies only a 5-10 minute away.  Not many places can boast such a proximity to a train station with a line that can have you in either the urban jungle or, err, rural jungle in no time, and with a low fee to boot.

It's not a perfect town by any means, but I have seen far worse, and when I leave it, I will miss it.  It may be a bit too sleepy and featureless for my liking, but my life in Japan, whatever it will amount to, started here, and it will always be precious to me for that.