Kagurazaka
The people we met in Tokyo would often ask where we lived. When we would say "Kagurazaka" they would look very confused. We would repeat the word. Then they would say it for us. We thought maybe they were correcting our pronunciation, but when they said the word it sounded the same to us as when we pronounced it.
Eventually someone told us that Kagurazaka used to be the "entertainment district". We wondered if that was why they were surprised, but it is now a quiet neighborhood with narrow twisting streets full of shrines and stores and apartments. It is so quiet that we could hear crickets at night. We never did figure out if people were correcting our pronunciation or if they were amazed that we were living there.
Here are some pictures taken on the walk from the Oedo Subway station to our apartment. One curious thing is that the direction of traffic on the shopping street changes during the day. Sometimes it is one way up the street, and sometimes it is one way down the street. On Sundays, the street is usually completely closed to traffic.
