Yasunari Kawabata was a Nobel Laureate in Literature and one of the best Japanese novelists. He had a tight connection with the Yanesen area and he spent his collage life in this town for 5 years. It is believed that the culture of Yanesen had more or less, influenced on his writings. In Yanesen, there are several places which have special association with Kawabata. Therefore, we would like to introduce these spots in this article. Famous authors who are also associated to Yanesen other than Kawabata, are introduced in the section of “Visiting special places in Yanesen which are associated with seven famous writers in Japan”

About Yasunari Kawabata

source: 読書共和国

Kawabata was one of the leading authors in Japan. He is highly recognized in both domestically and internationally as he was a first Japanese who was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature on 1968. While he was a university student, he lived in a boarding house in Yanesen which might have strong influence on his development of his foundation of his writing. In this article, we introduce several places in Yanesen that is associated with Kawabata.

Special sports related to Yasunari Kawabata in Yanesen

souece: 食べログ

Yasunari Kawabata entered the Tokyo University on 1920 and lived in boarding house in Yanesen for 5 years. Therefore in Yanesen, there are several places where he associated with during this period. We chose a few locations where he was tightly associated with such as the boarding house “Housyukan” that he lived and Japanese sweets bakery “Kikuzuki” beloved by him and introduce in this article.

Japanese sweets bakery “Kikuuzuki”

source: RKW130

Kikuzuki is a vintage Japanese sweets bakery established in 1917. It is well known that Kawabata loved sweets of this bakery. You can enjoy the same kinds of sweets as he enjoyed because Kikuzuki bakery has never moved since it was founded and has been operating in a same manner to date. When you eat the sweets of Kikuzuki, it may taste better if you imagine that Kawabata enjoyed the same sweets as you choose or wonder what kind of sweets Kawabata enjoyed most. If you choose to, you can enjoy the sweets of this bakery at their cafe locating adjacent to the bakery.

–   Place: Kikuzuki

• Address: 6-1-3 Yanaka, Taitoh-Ward, Tokyo
• Directions (by subways, by bus)
• Estimated time from Haneda or Narita International Airports, or Tokyo Station

55min From Haneda airport/ 60 min from Narita airport/ 10min from Tokyo Station

Official site URL: kikuduki

• Office hours: 9:00 ~18:00
• Closed on Tuesdays

Boarding house of Tokyo Emperor University “Hohsyukan”

source: 東京紅団

During his 5 years’ college life at the Tokyo University from 1920, Kawabata moved around the boarding houses in Nezu and in Sendagi in Yanesen area. Although the structure of these boarding houses are not remain same as the time he lived any more, if you visit there, you can still sense the old days culture of the downtown of Tokyo where young Kawabata had lived. Especially “Housyukan”, the Kawabata’s last boarding house is famous for not only for Kawabata’s residency but also for the residency of the previous Prim minister, Yasuhiro Nakasone. You may explore new sides of Tokyo when you walk around this historic area.

• Place: Housyukan
• Address: 7-2 Sendagi, Bunkyo-Ward
• Directions (by subways, by bus)

10min walk from Sendagi station

• Estimated time from Haneda or Narita International Airports, or Tokyo Station

55min from Haneda airport/ 55min from Narita airport/ 25min from Tokyo station