The Temple on the Threshold: Kawasaki Daishi
Walk through the shopping arcade that spills out from Kawasaki Daishi station and you arrive at a place where solitude is still possible in metropolitan Tokyo. Kawasaki Daishi—officially Heikenji—is a large temple dedicated to the famed monk Kobo Daishi, built on ground that draws local crowds on New Year's Eve yet feels almost empty on a weekday afternoon. The 8-sided, 5-storied pagoda rises above temple buildings that compose a textbook example of Japanese sacred architecture, the kind of space where you can walk the grounds without jostling for position in a photograph.
A 10-minute stroll from the station through the arcade gets you there. The temple's significance lies partly in its genuine emptiness on an ordinary day—a rarity in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area—and partly in what you find immediately after.
A Shrine of Iron and Candour: Wakamiya Hachiman-gū
Cross the intersection outside Kawasaki Daishi station, take the second road branching right, and pass a hospital on the corner. Moments later you will encounter Wakamiya Hachiman-gū Shrine, a quiet Shinto space that shares its grounds improbably with a kindergarten and houses one of Japan's few remaining fertility shrines. The deity here assumes the form of Kanamara-sama—the Iron Big Penis Lord—a meter-long iron phallus that draws pilgrims seeking protection and blessing.
The shrine includes a small sex museum displaying Japanese erotic art, among it a version of the Three Monkeys with two extra monkeys and a life-sized brass model of a vagina. Entry is free, though opening hours are erratic; the shrine shop attendant will usually open the museum on request. Buy an amulet from the shop and you are meant to rub it against the brass model.
The shrine reaches its truest expression during festival time. The Kanamara Matsuri, held on the first Sunday in April, is when temple floats laden with penis imagery parade down the streets and penis and vagina boiled candy popsicles sell from stalls. The candy comes with a practical note: the vagina versions are produced in smaller quantities and sell out by morning, while the penis variants typically vanish before midday. For a souvenir, pick up a traditionally dyed cloth headscarf bearing penis insignias.
Houses Carried Across the Country: Japan Open-air Folk House Museum
The Odakyu Line from Shinjuku will take you to Mukogaoka-yuen station; a 12-minute walk deposits you at grounds that contain more than twenty traditional Japanese houses transplanted from around the country, their dates ranging from the late 17th to early 20th century. You will also find the gate of Nagoya castle. The museum is rarely crowded, and free English guided tours are available by reservation through the website. Admission is ¥550.
The Shortest Escalator and the Industrial Night
In the basement of More's shopping complex near Kawasaki station—the small, thin building just south of the two stations with an entire ground floor devoted to games arcade—you will find the world's shortest escalator, positioned between two sets of stairs and making it pointless by any practical measure. The ride takes 8 seconds. An engineer's mistake, according to the city's official account: a structural beam blocked further construction after five metallic steps were installed. The legend has gained its own mythology over the years, though this one is now formally recognized as a "Modern Industrial Cultural Property."
For a different kind of night out, take the Keikyu Daishi train to the end and walk south into the Kawasaki Industrial Zone. The combination of smoke, piping and lighting across the man-made islands and canal network creates spectacle enough for local photographers. Alternatively, boat cruises and Hato bus tours now offer a more structured way to navigate the view. Print off a map beforehand; many roads dead-end without reaching the islands.
Racing and Summer Fire
The Kawasaki Racecourse, located 5 minutes on foot from Keikyu Minatomachi station, hosts weekday meetings including night races from March to December, with admission at ¥100. It ranks among the most accessible racecourses in Japan, and a modest English website provides current schedules.
Summer fireworks at Futako-Tamagawa station between Tokyo and Kawasaki offer something unusual: two separate displays on a single night, one half launched in Tokyo Prefecture and the other in Kanagawa, so that the two prefectures appear to take turns competing. The display rivals larger festivals but occupies less prominence in the listings precisely because it is split between two jurisdictions. Check local schedules for the date, which falls near the end of summer.
A day in Kawasaki moves between scaled-down wonders and genuine scale—a temple that empties of crowds, a shrine that speaks frankly, houses moved stone by stone across centuries, an escalator that was never meant to work, and an industrial night that photographs back in light. Begin planning your visit by checking the Kanamara Matsuri schedule for April, or consider a quieter weekday arrival at Kawasaki Daishi station.