Kichijoji: a menchi-katsu, the pond and a cave of a kissaten
A day out west on the JR Chuo line: a menchi-katsu eaten on the street, a walk round Inokashira pond, a basement kissaten built by puppeteers, and a library you will want to sit in, two stops further on.
It costs very little: the park is free and the library is free to enter. The library closes on Wednesdays; everything else is open every day.
- Where
- Tokyo
- How long
- 1 day
- Stops
- 4
- Distance
- 5 km · 1.5 km on foot
- On the clock
- about 5.5 h
- Pace
- slow
- Season
- all
- Mood
- slow · kissaten · eating
Times are the editor’s plan, not a timetable. ≈ marks our own rough estimate; check the train times before you go.
Per person, one adult. Each place’s figure is what its source printed, and the stop names the source and the date; the fares are the operators’ own published figures. Meals and rides with no printed figure are not in the total, and a figure printed more than a year ago says so. Converted at the European Central Bank reference rate of 2026-09-24, not a bank rate.
- 焼吉祥寺さとう
The round menchi-katsu of coarse-ground Japanese beef and sweet onion, three thousand sold a day. Hanako printed it at ¥270 in January 2024.
武蔵野市 · Hanako · 20 min¥270per personas printed by Hanako January 14, 2024 · may have changedHours10:00–19:00 (menchi-katsu from 10:30); open every day · Hanako, Jan 2024 · may have changed
The place →Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈13 min · 0.8 km
- 観Inokashira Park 井の頭恩賜公園
The park round Inokashira pond, south of the station. It never closes and entry is free; a few facilities inside charge.
Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association · 75 minFreeper Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association September 25checked 2026-09-25HoursAlways open · tokyo-park.or.jp, checked 25 Sep 2026
Source ↗Open in maps ↗ - Walk≈12 min · 0.7 km
- 珈琲COFFEE HALL くぐつ草
Opened in 1979 by members of Yuki-za, a marionette company 390 years old, in a basement they made to look like a cave. Deep-roast coffee and curry; Hanako's pick is the rare cheesecake with no base, ¥800.
武蔵野市 · Hanako · 60 min¥800per personas printed by Hanako April 24, 2025 · may have changedHours10:00–22:00; open every day · Hanako, Apr 2025 · may have changed
The place →Open in maps ↗ - Train≈15 min · JR Chuo line, Kichijoji to Musashi-Sakai
- 観武蔵野プレイス Musashino Place
A library and civic centre a minute from Musashi-Sakai station, four floors of books from two below ground to two above, on Jalan's list of libraries worth the trip.
武蔵野市 · Jalan Net News · 60 minHours9:30–22:00; closed Wednesdays (the next weekday when Wednesday is a holiday) · Jalan, as of 29 Aug 2026
The place →Open in maps ↗
On the wire this week
- おすすめのおしゃれな図書館16選！カフェやアートな空間も楽しめる Jalan Net News
Sora Nakamura was born in Kanazawa, grew up between a fish market and a grandmother's kitchen, and spent her twenties cooking in Tokyo, Lyon and Melbourne before she put down the knife to write. Back in Tokyo since 2019, she keeps a spreadsheet of every place she has eaten at since 2011 and a bicycle she rides to most of them. She writes routes, not rankings, and believes the best restaurant in any town is the one that has been open long enough to have a regular who died there.