Places in the Tokyo/Kanto: Inage
[Chiba] [Inage] [Kichijoji] [Shinjuku] [Shibuya] [Harajuku] [Yokohama] [Asakusa/Ueno][Ikebukuro] [Other places]
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Inage is probably the third largest region of Chiba City behind Chuo and Makuhari Messe. It even has a department store/shopping centre called Saty/Meteor and a few other large shopping locations. The station area also has a few banks, a Mr Donut shop and some restaurants, including a really good yakitori restaurant and one of my most common haunts, a cheap Italian chain restaurant called Saizeriya which can also be found in central Chiba, near the Uni and just about anywhere else in Japan (including Tsukuba and Kanazawa). Just near Saizeriya, a former supermarket has just become an entertainment complex containing a video game centre, pool hall, karaoke place and two izakaya (Japanese-style taverns) which have often been the source of enjoyment for us locals. The top floor of that complex is a bowling alley and on the roof sits a large yellow bowling pin which serves as the landmark of Inage station to all around.
Inside the Meteor complex are a couple of 100yen shops (like $2 shops back home) which have provided much of the decor for my room along with a similar shop in central Chiba. Meteor also contains apart from the McDonald's I went to when I was on a budget (cheeseburgers half price weekdays but they taste just as bad here), a place called Cafe Premiere that I went to at least once a week originally although I rarely go there these days. I've got to know the staff and many of the regulars there and always ate a curry rice there. I miss the place but it was getting too expensive.
The places I have just described are on the east side of the station in the area known as Konakadai, which includes the Halls, themselves. The Halls are situated behind a primary school, just near the local library. Opposite the Halls there are some peanut patches (for which Chiba is famous) which can be annoying when wind blows the soil everywhere. Diagonally opposite the Halls, about 50m from my room, is the Dailystore which is a convenience store and certainly convenient. Just near it is a little park which apart from being home to some unfortunate homeless people and many pigeons is once a year the site of the Inage bon odori, a local community festival.
Down the road from the park takes you to my favourite hamburger restaurant, Mos Burger, a uniquely Japanese chain. It's not a burger like you get back home but it tastes so much better than Maccas. In the vicinity is a homeware store, two supermarkets, a green grocers and a few other sundry shops. Not far away are a couple of video shops as well.
As well as the two izakaya in the bowling building, there are three others plus assorted 'snack bars.' Don't let the name of the latter fool you - these are the places where the drinks are all over-priced and the girls serving quite attractive. I've never bothered to go into one and don't really see the need but I saw the inside of one on TV once. The izakaya on the other hand is definitely worth a visit and preferably many more. As I said before, it is a Japanese tavern but it is somewhat different from the pubs back home. They are much larger for one and for two sitting down at tables is the go and mostly these are divided up. You can even do karaoke while you drink at some of them. The food is mostly small but not so expensive and designed to be shared around. Less pick-up opportunities, no bar and no pool tables makes it completely different from the Aussie pub (incidentally pub in Japanese refers to the snack bars so you have to be careful with the term). There are also no live bands but instead music runs from a tape constantly. The places are mostly open to about 5am so they rate as one of the few places you can go after midnight.
There are shops on the other side of the station as well but none of them rate any particular mention. There is also a shopping centre inside the train station building itself although I rarely use it. Passing the station area, however, you head towards the coast of Tokyo bay. Halfway there is where the coast used to reach before the reclamation at a large shrine called Sengen-jinja which has a festival once a year in July. The shrine's torii (gate) was once in the water but now the shrine backs onto a major freeway. Crossing the freeway leads you out of Inage, into Mihama Ward, to an area known as Inage Kaigan which is centred around a station of the same name which is on a different line. There are some really big shopping and homeware centres there and even a Nike factory store. Inage Kaigan also has its share of izakaya and fast food places including Mos and Maccas. There are also two community centres there where I do some part-time work. One more place that should be mentioned is Starbucks, a cafe resulting from the boom in Seattle-style coffee. Thankfully with our Italian community in Melbourne this trend hasn't hit there yet but they are just everywhere in Japan now and have even stretched to Chiba with this one, an indication that Inage Kaigan can be classified as one of the more trendy places in the area. There were maybe five around when I was here in '98 but now there must be easily more than a 100 plus imitation stores are quite common too.
Past the station area is the beach itself and before the beach, a foreshore park which has many facilities including some interesting climbing equipment, a floral clock, a flower museum and a swimming pool (although the pool is only open July 20-the end of August as I found out on a 30+ July 16 day to my chagrin). Actually the view on to the bay is not so dissimilar from the view at Brighton Beach near my house, until you look towards Chiba and see all the factories. The beach too is not wonderful and the water not fit for swimming in my opinion although many locals brave it in the summer (probably because it's hot and the pools aren't open). All in all Inage Kaigan is a pretty nice place. Of course being on reclaimed land the danger of 'the big earthquake' overdue for the region could be a problem but it's not something anyone here worries about. They just get on with things.
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[Chiba] [Inage] [Kichijoji] [Shinjuku] [Shibuya] [Harajuku] [Yokohama] [Asakusa/Ueno][Ikebukuro] [Other places]