I spent two out of nine Golden Week days in Nezu. In the Edo period there was a pleasure quarter there, smaller than the Yoshiwara but bigger than the one in Shinagawa, but they were all forced out in the 1880s. This was allegedly because what would later become the University of Tokyo had moved in next door, although it's hard to imagine either teachers or students complaining about the situation pre-move. Later the area became a literary center and yada yada Meiji literature the very paving stones that MORI Ougai trod et cetera.

We also hit up the Tsutsuji Matsuri (Azalea Festival) at the local shrine, although, since I wasn't willing to join the slow-motion conga line of old people through the actual garden, I only saw the flowers themselves from a distance. That's okay, though; I've read a few poems about them.