Chofu

What to see

Jindaiji Temple is the reason to come. Founded in 733, it's Tokyo's second-oldest temple, and the approach to its gate runs past water wheels, thatched shopfronts and the spring water that still feeds the soba houses. The main hall sits among old trees, and the grounds stay quiet outside weekend lunch hours. Every March 3 and 4 the temple hosts a daruma market, counted among the three biggest in Japan, and the approach fills with stalls selling the red wishing dolls.

Above the temple, Jindai Botanical Gardens spreads across the hill with 100,000 plants, a grand greenhouse and the rose garden that peaks in May and again in October. Entry is 500 yen, it's closed on Mondays, and the paths are wide enough that even a busy Sunday feels unhurried. Somewhere in the temple grounds is the pin this site calls Where Daniel Proposed. It's a corner under old trees with the sound of spring water, which is exactly what it says. Come in the late afternoon, when the day visitors have left and the light comes sideways through the trees.

Where to eat and drink

Soba is the meal, and it isn't optional. The spring water around Jindaiji Temple made buckwheat the local crop, and around twenty soba houses line the approach and the lanes around the gate, many run by the same families for generations. Order cold zaru soba to taste the noodle itself, sit on tatami if the house has it, and finish with the soba-yu, the cooking water, poured into the leftover dipping sauce. Weekday lunch is the calm slot. Weekends bring queues at the best-known houses, but with this many places you're never far from a table.

The stalls along the approach sell soba manju and grilled snacks to eat standing, and several houses have seats outdoors by the stream, where a beer goes down well in summer. Daniel and his wife had soba by the gate after he proposed in the temple grounds, and that's the endorsement this site leans on. Back in Chofu itself, the streets around the station cover everyday izakaya and ramen needs, but the eating you're here for is up at the temple. Build the day so lunch lands there.

Where to stay

Chofu is a day trip for most visitors, and the sensible base is Shinjuku, twenty minutes away on the Keio Line express, which puts every other west-side neighbourhood on the same line. If you want to wake up near the temple, you'll find business hotels around Chofu station, a practical stop with the bus to Jindaiji leaving from outside. Kichijoji, a bus ride to the north, has more character, better evenings and its own park. Chofu suits slow travellers on a second visit, families who want green space, and couples who, like Daniel, have a reason to spend a night near Jindaiji.

How to do it in a day

Take the Keio Line express from Shinjuku to Chofu, twenty minutes, then either the fifteen-minute bus or the twenty-five-minute walk north to Jindaiji. Aim to reach Jindaiji Temple by late morning, before the lunch crowd, and walk the approach past the water wheels to the main hall. Lunch is soba at one of the houses around the gate, cold in summer and hot in winter. Arrive early enough and you'll skip the weekend queue. Climb the hill to Jindai Botanical Gardens for the afternoon, timed for the roses if your trip falls in May or October, then walk back down as the gardens close. Late afternoon is the temple's quiet hour. Find the corner under old trees marked Where Daniel Proposed and take the point. A last soba manju on the approach, the bus back to Chofu, and the express into Shinjuku for dinner.