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Sunday Excursion to Kokubunji, Tokyo; May 25, 2025
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This Sunday, we went to Kokubunji, located along the JR Chuo line in the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis.
We had been browsing through some of Kokubunji’s restaurants and cafés online, and wanted to check out some of them.
For lunch, we decided to go to Suzume-no-Tsuno (スズメノツノ), a restaurant and café located south-east of JR Kokubunji Station. Their specialty lunch offer, which we noticed was quite popular with the other customers as well, is cabbage roll. We gave it a try, and were quite pleased with the taste and presentation of the meal. At 1,200 Yen, it was a reasonably priced and well-sized lunch offering.
The restaurant has some quirky signs inside and outside its washroom:
On the outside, an image of Sid Vicious, asking people to “knock” instead of “rock”
On the inside, an image of Mick Jagger, asking people to “lock” instead of “rock”
(unedited iPhone photos)
After lunch, we walked for about 10 minutes to reach Backen, a Swedish pastry and coffee shop. It wasn’t too crowded when we arrived, so we found a seat inside the store. They have excellent espresso drinks, and specialize in Swedish baked items. We decided to go with a Kardemummabullar (cardamom roll) and a hot Caffe Latte, and both were really good. The interior of the store is spacious and comfortable.
After so much food, we walked around town a bit more, and then looked around the Celeo Shopping Center inside the JR Station. At the Kinokuniya bookstore, I found a beautiful special edition of a new translation of Hiro Arikawa’s book, 阪急電車 (“The Passengers on the Hankyu Line”). Apparently, Kinokuniya produces a special limited edition of one book every year, and this is the one for 2025. I got a copy of it and am looking forward to reading the story.
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