Narita International Airport, also known as Tokyo Narita Airport, is the most popular gateway to Japan,
but in reality, it is not in Tokyo at all. It is a 60-minute express train ride (80-90 minute bus ride) outside of Tokyo
in Chiba Prefecture. Adjacent to the airport is Narita City, with a population of almost 129,000. This may be a pittance compared to Tokyo's 12 million, but there is much to do and see culturally in both Narita City
and its next-door neighbor Sakura City – population nearly 172,300,making both of these suburban cities worth
the visit. In fact, this is recommended, especially, at either the beginning of your Tokyo trip to detox from jetlag or at the end of your trip to relax before departure, especially if you have a very early morning flight.
Sakura City
Sakura City is a twenty-minute taxi or train ride (JR or Keisei lines) from Narita Airport. Overflowing in history, it is renowned for its well restored former samurai residences and the National Museum of Japanese History, whose exhibits reveal the story of Japan from archaeological discoveries to modern times.
From an artistic perspective, Sakura boasts two distinctive art museums: Sakura City Museum of Art and Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art. The former was previously the Sakura City branch of Kawasaki Bank and its entrance way is a prefectural cultural property.
It displays work by local artists from Sakura and Chiba's Boso Peninsula. The latter museum is heralded for its rich collection of European masters, including: Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, Chagall, Picasso and Braque, as well as 20th Century Japanese sensei, such as Korin Ogata.
Samurai History and Residences
In 1610, Doi Toshikatsu, the Roju or Chief Advisor to the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, began constructing Sakura Castle and its surrounding town. Today the castle is in ruins, but its structural remains and its dry moat are the cornerstone of Sakura Castle Park. The park is also famous for its June flowers – its magnificent ajisai or hydrangea and its nine-thousand irises in 46 varieties, which bloom around the main pond.
East of the Castle Park is Sakura Samurai Street. Here you will find five well-maintained Samurai residences -- the largest number collectively still-standing in Kanto, where the street view has not changed since the Edo Period. These houses have indicative thatched roofs and earthwork barriers for their defense. Three of them, Kawara House, Tajima House, and Takei House, are opened to the public. Because these three houses differed in rank and value of fief, you can get an idea of the variation of the lives of samurai by comparing them. Kawara House, built in the early 19th Century, is the oldest of the three open houses, and it belonged to one of the highest ranking samurai of the time.
On a separate street, Kaburagimachi, is Hotta House (10 am – 4:30 pm, Tues-Sun). It was built in1890 by Masamoto Hotta, the last feudal lord of Sakura, when he moved from Tokyo after the Meiji restoration. Made in traditional Japanese tatami-mat/shoji-screen style, it is a complex of five wooden buildings with tiled, hipped roofs, along with a storehouse and a gate-keeper's lodge. The complex is designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Its grounds, known as Sakura Garden, were created by Ito Hikoemon, a famous Meiji Period gardener. The garden is acclaimed as one of the best scenic views in Chiba Prefecture, and is always open to the public.
Museums
You will need three hours to fully appreciate the National Museum of Japanese History. This is an excellent introduction to Japan before you set out on your grand national exploration. You will see more than 200,000 artifacts with your complimentary English-language audio guide (free only to foreigners), and you will learn about the emergence of Japanese culture from the Paleolithic age to the present.
The history of a nation and its people unfold through objects of daily life: from Jomon pottery (12000 to 300 BC)
to painted Edo Period shoji screens, depicting Japan's relationship with foreign countries during the 18th Century; from replica masted ships, used in the Kashima nagashi ceremony in Akita Prefecture to banish misfortune to the spirit world; to a scale model of a real Western-style school house in Yamanashi Prefecture circa 1875, when the silk and iron industries began driving Japan's Meiji Period economic growth; to the “war and peace” life and culture of the 1930s to 1970s, as conveyed through real publications and video news footage of the day.
If you have time go on to the Sakura area art museums, but if not, head over to Narita City.
Narita City
Aside from the airport, Narita is most well known for Narita-san Shinshoji Temple. This is the main temple of the Shingon Sect of Chizan-ha esoteric Buddhism. Founded by Archbishop Kancho in the third year of Tenkei (940), the temple is dedicated to Fudō-myō-ō, the god of fire, whose image was carved and consecrated by the great monk Kukai also known as Kobo Daishi. Since its foundation, Shinshoji has attracted numerous followers of the Fudō faith as well as tourists. In fact, ten million people visit Shinshoji per year.
Since its inception, the temple has offered a special Goma fire ritual every day. Here, worshipers prayers are offered to Fudō-myō-ō in front of a sacred fire.
In the Heian period, the war-ridden Kanto region was burned to the ground by a Goma prayer that had been performed by order of the Emperor. This is said to be the origin of Narita-san Shinshoji Temple.
The grounds of Narita-san are quite extensive and attractive.
It is particularly worthwhile to visit Narita-san during one of its annual monthly festivals, such as the taiko drum festival in April.
Running a one kilometer route from the train station to Narita-san is the machiya (traditional style building) lined street known as Omotesando.
Here you'll find numerous restaurants – especially those featuring fresh unagi or eel, the local specialty, as well as
boutiques selling souvenirs, traditional crafts and street fare.
Sample freshly charcoal toasted sembei or rice crackers,
and pick up some perfectly packaged gift foods, such as yokan, Narita's special sweet azuki bean jelly treat.
You can even learn more about this local dessert at the Nagomi-no- Yoneya, a famous yokan shop and historical museum at the top of Omotesando that dates back to 1899.
Also noteworthy among Omtesando shops is the sake store and brewery, Takizawa Honten Brewery, founded in 1872.
When I was there recently, I was fortunate that the amiable fifth-generation, brewer invited my friends and me in for not only a tasting but an explanation of his premium nihonshu and a back-of-the-house inspection of his production facility (available December-February, reservations required). We observed how the rice is polished, fermented and then combined with a microorganism from the rice called koji, plus yeast and brewed for the right length of time at the right temperature to make the perfect grade. As sake is 80% water that is its essential terroir. Takezawa-san uses spring water so pure that it was reportedly used by healers in the past to cure disease. With this in mind, Takizawa-san named his sakes Chomeisen, meaning “fountain of longevity.”
Getting Around and Putting it all Together
East Japan Railway provides sample rail and walk/hike itineraries and rail and bike itineraries around Narita and Sakura cities, making it easy to spend a culturally rich and soft adventure filled day or overnight just a short distance from Narita Airport. You can use their itineraries and maps as a base, even if you plan to take taxis from one site to another. In addition, if you book in advance, it's easy to arrange volunteer guides of Narita and Sakura cities via links from Chiba Prefecture's website.
Additionally, if you are just on an airport layover, but have at least four hours, there is a new Narita area sake brewery taxi tour service that will take you to Takazawa and one other sake brewery, as well as Narita-san and Ryushoin Niomon-Gate, an Important Cultural Property. Other tours visit other breweries in conjunction with Shisui Premium Outlets for shopping or the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum, a homage to one of Japan's first surveyors/map-makers.
Tour Fees range from 12,000 yen per group for four hours with a sedan to 27,000 yen for six hours with a mini-van.
Finally, as of December 2013, NTT East has activated over 40,000 wifi hot-spots in Japan available free to foreigners for 14 consecutive days from their initial free registration. This includes most locations in and around Narita.
For more information on Narita and Sakura cities, visit Chiba Prefecture's website, and find out more about the Gateway to Japan.
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